• SoyViking [he/him]
    ·
    7 months ago

    I really hate that show. It has done immense harm miseducating the public about what poverty is and what it looks like. The people on the show are never truly poor, they always have a reasonable income and some assets. Many of them are home owners. And they're presented like absolute clowns whose only problem is being too stupid to do basic math.

    The show never explores issues of mental health or economic marginalisation. The people on the show never have trouble finding gainful employment, if needed the show runners will set up interviews for them. People on the show never experience unforeseen expenses and it is never explored how hard frugality actually is in a society where everyone seems hellbent on making you spend money all the time.

    No, poverty can be solved simply by selling your dumbass second caravan and stop eating fastfood every night.

    • a_little_red_rat [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      7 months ago

      Yeah, I just need to say your critique is spot on.

      But even for the more well-off middle-class people shown in the show, it's never as easy as just "wow thanks for telling me I should not be buying so many snacks, I am gonna be debt-free now!", the shitty buying and debt patterns are usually some kind of a coping mechanism for a deeper problem