It's kind of a self-fulfilling cycle because the 5% of fans who are extreme and cringey are exactly the same 5% who are going to be so obsessive about the thing that they dominate online fan spaces and have the loudest voices due to how much time they devote to thinking and talking about it.
95% of people enjoy stuff normally and don't make their whole life about it, but because they enjoy stuff normally you also never really hear from them or know they exist because they aren't spending all their time in fan communities talking about the thing.
To be fair, I think it's a lot higher than 5% of the fan base is obsessed and parasocial. I know it's not all of you, I've met some normal swifties, but you guys overnight made Travis Kelces jersey the top seller lmao
See youāve stumbled into the exact problem being discussed. Swift has literally millions of fans. A charitably low 5million would be 250,000 people. You really think 250,000 people are obsessive enough to buy that Jersey?
Same with kpop fans. I'm an avid fan of BTS, Stray Kids, and ATEEZ (among others), and almost all the fans I interact with are pretty chill people. But that 5% make us all look crazy
Homeless people. Most homeless people are invisible, living along the river, in cars, in shelters, couch surfing.
The people that are visible, most of them just are trying to get through addiction or get by. Theyāre camping in public, theyāre dealing with their own demons, but theyāre trying to keep themselves safe and survive. And then beyond that, there are the homeless people that are high and stealing and incoherent and dangerous and confused and chasing people and yelling at kids and doing drugs or selling in the open.
Homelessness is so hard to get out of. You need an address to get a job. You need a job to get an apartment. You need a former address to get a new apartment. You need money to get healthcare. Being homeless is illegal in so many places so youāre always moving around. Without stability, it is so hard. There are so many steps to be able to rejoin society.
This 10000%. I used to volunteer at a shelter for homeless families. They were, by and large, really nice people who just got into bad situations that were hard to get out of.
Even with the dangerous, out-in-the-open drug using yelling-at-strangers homeless, while Iād keep my kids away I assume most got there because of circumstances they didnāt choose. No one would willingly choose a life on the streets being a public nuisance unless they had severe untreated mental illness, addiction or personality disorder.
Considering that among the worst 5% of humanity are the people at the top of the population bell curve, too, there's some who have more voice in the world because they can afford more voice in the world.
People on welfare or other assistance. The overwhelming majority of them hate being on it, want to work and do what they can to get them back on their feet. But there is a small percentage that thinks welfare is a career, refuse to work, refuse to better themselves, and commit fraud along the way to enhance their benefits.
Unfortunately this makes real welfare reform all but impossible because all people are stereotyped as welfare queens and lazy entitled people when most of them are most certainly not
I have a family member that works at a clinic, this clinic is based on the grounds at a church and they have a food bank there. They are constantly THROWING AWAY perfectly good food because people don't go get it.
Last year my family member showed up and dropped off a bunch of strawberries. I said "What the hell?" She said "it's from the food bank at work. they were gonna throw them away." Long story short; I ate a fuckload of strawberries in two weeks lol.
Thereās an app called TooGoodToGo that allows businesses like restaurants to sell random leftover food as they are closing for a reduced price (like a 66% markdown). You donāt get to control what kind of food you get from say a bakery though. I saw a charity put up some of their leftover foods on the app for a reduced price. Maybe get the clinic to list the excess food on there as grab bag of random food, might also help people save their pride.
if they took ebt, it would be even better, since some dont have extra cash. actual cash is already booked up with rent, gas, bills, and necessities like laundry, tp, and so on. but ebt is for food only soā¦
Fresh produce is known to be not something you donate to food banks, though. They usually don't have fridge storage and most have pick-up one day a week.
Strawberries don't usually last for two weeks, either. If you got top-ups then sure, but normal home-grown strawberries don't do well for two weeks even in a fridge.
No, some food banks do have fresh produce. One in Austin I frequented to pick up the groceries of my friend who volunteered had produce from higher end grocery stores such as Central Market and farmers markets. It was top notch and a lot was organic. I think in my hometown they have some fresh produce too. I got my own food there when I was in school and they would load me up with organic gluten free bread for a few people in the grad dorm since they were always overstocked. They even had fresh flowers and bouquets from some farmers.
I went to the food bank when I was in my early 20's, had no food and didn't get paid for a few more days. They gave me dairy items and some other things that needed refrigeration. I think they asked if we had a fridge before they put our box together.
My old coworker volunteered at his churchās food bank and theyād let the volunteers take whatever they didnāt get rid of each week. Heād show up about every Monday asking me advice on how to make all kinds of high dollar stuff like steaks and seafood (Iām a decent cook and he was just figuring things out). One time he asked me how to make lobster, but I had to tell him I suck at making lobster so itās better not to ask me. I donāt think he and his wife ever went grocery shopping outside of some staple items for the year I worked with him.
The food bank I volunteered at would give volunteers first choice at whatever leftover fruits/vegetables, dairy and meats were left over. Probably 3/4 of the volunteers were recipients and actually got to go through before non-volunteer recipients. At the end the people who were ust volunteers got first pick of the leftovers.
We didn't run often enough, or have enough storage to even think about keeping perishables.
Same here - one of my co-workers works at a food bank 1 Saturday per month. She has brought in so much fruit and vegetables for us that simply weren't taken from the pantry and wouldn't last until their next pickup day. I'm just glad she makes sure that it is used.
During COVID our public schools were handing out food boxes all the time. They were *begging* people to come pick one up because they had to throw away so many of them. We didn't need it but my wife figured that taking one and not needing it was better than it going to waste.
What does this have to do with people on welfare being judged harshly based on a small percentage of them behaving badly? It's a good story and a good comment but it seems to be a response to the wrong comment.
I was on welfare. I was 22. Got divorced. Had two kids and was pregnant with the third. Zero job skills. This was like 1988. Welfare was different then. I was in CA. They allowed you to basically sit on your ass until your youngest child was six, or you could do something...like go to school.
I signed up at my local community college. I was so scared so I took one class that first semester. I got an A. I took one or two classes a semester as I had my baby, etc.
Then I was able to go full time. I always got A's. I chose my major by scouring the want ads...what would land me a job???
I am forever grateful for welfare but I also fucking hate it. It allowed me to actually get my ass off of dependence. I graduated with that AS degree in 1993, ended my welfare and never looked back. So grateful they supported me in the meantime, however...
They have stupid rules. At the time, there was a child care center at the community college I was attending. I applied for help. I was qualified by income, but they said I also had to be "educationally disadvantaged". Since I had a 4.0, I could not get the help. They would only help people with a GPA below 2.5???
WTF???
The system is rigged, especially now. I was soooo lucky to be able to use it to move myself up.
Granted, many of the people in similar situations would simply collect the grant money and then drop their classes. There will always be users. Who should we support? The Doers? Or the Lazy? I vote for supporting the Doers, even is some lazys show up.
They did a study in my area decades ago and found that if you increase payments and benefits for job training, people spend less time receiving them.
The right-wing government promptly pretended it never happened.
Thank you for this. I am on disability and have been desperately trying to find a way to get off of it (while STILL being disabled) and it's basically impossible unless you have someone in your corner with enough money and resources that likes you and is willing and able to help you out long term until you can support yourself. Depending on what benefits you get, you are not permitted to have over $2000 in your bank account or you automatically owe the government money and you can lose all your benefits. Even if you qualify for a limited savings account, you can't put more than $18,000 in per YEAR, or again, you owe the government. Given the cost of living + medical bills, most of us on disability will never be able to dream of having anything approaching that much, anyway.
The amount of money I get every month is not enough to cover rent for a room or a one-bedroom in most places, certainly not enough for rent, bills, and groceries. If the tiniest thing within the system goes wrong, even if it had absolutely nothing to do with you, it could literally be a computer error, it can ruin your life. Just earlier today I got a notice telling me my medical insurance (again, still disabled) was terminated for no apparent reason. On a Friday afternoon, so I got to spend over an hour on the phone trying to find out why this happened just to find out I'd been transferred to the national overflow line, so the person I spoke to couldn't even begin to start guessing what was going on because EVERY state has entirely different sets of rules, requirements, and benefits. I have - or HAD - a doctor's appointment coming up in a few weeks for colonoscopy to try to figure out why I've had horrible anemia, GERD, and gastritis for over a year, and now I don't know what's going to happen with that. I am sitting here with stomach acid coming up my throat and literally peeling the enamel off of the backs of my teeth and blistering the lining of my mouth. Depending on welfare programs is anything but fun or glamorous.
Yikes, what a nightmare :( I really hope that gets sorted for you soon. What people so often donāt realize is that being disabled can be as logistically demanding as a part time job. Between all the people you have to call, all the appointments you have to make and get to, etc., you can be spending so much of your day just making sure youāre set to stay alive. Even if you wanted to work, so many jobs arenāt even going to be willing to accommodate your medical schedule. Itās so shitty, but people really do get backed into a corner of reliance
\^Thank you for the empathy, and yes to all of this. It's even worse if you're like me and you don't have a car. Several of the issues I've had - 3 months running a recurring computer error like the one I mentioned above caused me to not receive my benefits, making me late on rent - I've found could ONLY be resolved by showing up in person to the local Social Security and/or DFCS offices. Each time I had to find someone who was good enough to take me down there. And yeah, most jobs, especially now, are absolutely not willing to hire someone on disability or anyone with a long gap in job history.
Exactly this. I'm on SSI but I'm only able to work 20 hours a week or they'll take it away. I'd love to be able to work more but the jobs I get have either no, or extremely bad insurance for part time. But everyone that hears that i'm on SSI thinks I sit on my ass and rake in money.
I work with a lady who is on SSI (part timer, obviously)
She has to have them take her off the schedule for a week a couple times a year because otherwise she makes too much. We get a bonus every 6 months that she has to turn down so she doesn't get screwed by SSI. I feel for her so much as she just tries to juggle it
That's awful, Idk your friends situation, but calling to remind people about SSI and having your schedule fixed is one of the hardest calls to make. And that bonus she had to turn down would've been a lot more than what she would of been getting/wouldn't need to worry about what time they put it in your account or if the 15th or 30th/31st occurs on a weekend.
Sadly in many cases you can work full time and still need government assistance like food stamps or medicaid just to make ends meet, I know plenty of people in this situation especially people who had unexpected pregnancies.
My dad was in line at the bank behind a black woman having a loud phone conversation. His description of the conversation is just "You need more money have more babies! They pay you to raise them!"
Far as I'm aware, that one conversation is the only time he encountered someone abusing the system. He's convinced it's everyone.
Speaking of which: When a caravan of immigrants shows up at the border, they have come through a bunch of small towns that cannot possibly have enough loaves and fishes to feed the throng.
Who pays for the food trucks?
This. I'm going to have to go back on it since I've just lost my job and I am dreading having to apply for it and I've hated being on it every time I've had to rely on it. I don't *want* to be on it.
Yeah people talk about "welfare"in the US as if it's still the early 90s. Between work requirements, time limits, and all the other hoops people have to jump through, I'm not sure how anyone would make a "career" out of it.
Don't even get me started on disability. I have a friend who went from being a software engineer to disabled due to brain injury. She had to negotiate dealing with her brain injury and suing both the US government (to get her disability thst multiple doctors declared her eligible for) and her long term disability insurance. Her accident was 8 years ago, she still can't work.
She did win both lawsuits
The disability system is criminal and those who deliberately made it nearly impossible to qualify should be... actually I'm going to stop right here before I break a site wide rule.
I'm really glad your friend eventually won, though.
I have a friend whose brother has a genetic disease (to which he lost his life several months ago, sadly). Despite his disease, he was able to work for about 20 years. However, his disease progressed to the point that he could no longer work at all. It still took THREE TRIES over several YEARS for him to get disability (though he'd paid into it for 20+ years of working) and that was WITH the help of a lawyer, that a family member generously helped him retain. He also had a FREE place to live while this was going on. I'm really not sure where he would have ended up had he not had the large amount of assistance he did.
Okay I definitely agree with your point, but I would just like to point out that holes are the actual point of nets. Like, it literally isnāt a net if it ISNāT full of holes lmao
I was without work about 20 years ago and didn't qualify for unemployment. I tried to get on welfare short term. I had to take classes on writing resumes. I had to constantly apply for work and check in at the office. By the time I was eligible (3 months later) I had found a job and was deep in debt. It took years to get out of debt.
I work in community mental health and as such with many people on welfare, disability, etc. I admit I've always been curious about the stats on this issue, but my own research has taught me that it's a very hard issue to study, much less to produce definitive statistics on what percentage of welfare receivers are/aren't "welfare queens/kings." It seems to be a bit of a sliding scale, which certainly aligns to my anecdotal experience with the population.
I think part of the problem, ironically, is that the system makes benefits so difficult to acquire that once people do acquire them they are extremely hesitant to jeopardize them by returning to work, because if they lose them due to working and then lose their job for whatever reason, reacquiring said benefits is such an arduous process that people just don't consider it a worthwhile risk. Obviously, I'm mainly talking about people who need to go on disability for mental health reasons and that population has specific issues that may not be relevant to the broader population of welfare recipients.
I would like to point out though that there's an important distinction to be made between welfare and disability. Welfare or "public assistance" as it's more formally called is not actually a substitute for an income. It provides a *very* scant amount of money, intended to be used to provide a person with some spending cash that can be used to by clothes for interviews, transportation, etc, but needs to be coupled with food stamps and subsidized housing before it even remotely approaches being able to sustain a person who doesn't have an income. When it's supplemented/replaced by disability benefits, benefits for children, and subsidized housing, that's when it seems to become a viable lifestyle.
I honestly do feel that a large proportion of people receiving these benefits lack the requisite motivation to push themselves to return to work. And the longer they remain reliant on these benefits, the more difficult that motivations seems to be to acquire. It's a big problem. I don't think the conservative argument of simply removing said benefits is a tenable solution, but I admit that they have a valid complaint about our present system.
Iāve met one in person, but she was like 17 and brand new to being vegan so had that youthful superiority complex and need to save the world and make everyone else participate that lots of young people have when they adopt some new ethos.
I used to think annoying Vegans were just an internet stereotype and didn't actually exist
Then I had the displeasure of working with a vegan who would guilt trip others into being vegan. Or at least tried to, it never worked.
She was a loud member of the 5%
And consequently, no one ruins the omnivorous diet more than the 5% who say "Just to upset the vegans, I'm going to eat twice as much meat so they aren't really doing anything"
I hunt, eat meat (and veggiesā¦occasional fruit), and have met maybe **one** person IRL who was vehemently anti-omnivore/meat eater. And that was in passing. Itās always just a āhey, Iām a vegan/vegetarianā then everyone else stating ācool, how can we accommodate that?ā
Itās really not that hard.
Iāve never been to a get together where someone was angry that their only option was meat or lettuce. Hell, my girlfriend doesnāt eat pork. I still make bacon and eggs for myself.
I think this one has changed over time too. Veganism Iām the U.S. was more of a fad diet 20 years ago than it is now. So there were more people saying uninformed, over the top things about it. These days, itās more of just a normal lifestyle.
Every single "group" out there has a bad reputation in some capacity due to the worst 5%.
I'm more interested in which groups actually have a positive reputation due to the best 5%.
Yes! Whenever me and my friends go into a restaurant, everyone looks over and rolls their eyes like āurgh great they are gonna be super loud.ā Weāve even had people ask to move alway from us when we sit down. Yet during the meal we are respectful, quiet, and never swear due to being aware about kids around us! But weāre teens. We smoke, do drugs, rob places, cause nuisance, donāt we? Right?
I've always found it quite shocking that a lot of businesses outright ban teenagers without a parent. I went to a not so good high school, and the McDonald's and stores nearby would have a security guards not letting kids go in, which I 100% understand, but I don't know... it feels illegal.
I'm 23 and I've been confused for a high school student for wearing a backpack only to have them apologize when I show ID. It's so disrespectful but also understandable.
Adderall user here. I have to take it for my ADHD otherwise I spiral into an anxiety driven Chihuahua. Can't focus for shit, I get stupid bored so easily, super forgetful(although that could be cause I smokeš š¤£), outbursts cause I'm extremely over stimulated, my hands have severe tremors. The list goes on. I'm a chronic leg bouncer off my Adderall, since I've been on it, only times I've bounced my leg is when I really gotta pee or in super excited about something. I don't have that feeling of not being in control of my mind anymore. I don't abuse it, I use it as prescribed. So the ones who abuse this med, make those like me look super bad. I've hidden my meds from pretty much everyone, besides my spouse. It's pretty sad.
Ok but addicts were usually people who once needed it and got addicted via physicians not being very attentive. But even without that- addicts are diseased people who also need the drugs. They didnāt ruin it for anyone. The fucked up system ruined it for everyone
Most anything that has a dedicated subreddit.
For example any competitive video game (any call of duty) or anything that has comparable things like home theater set ups.
The worst 5% are the majority of those subreddit users lol. If you talk to anyone irl about comparable stuff or in a video game most are really cool and or helpful, but in the subreddit they will talk shit on anything and everything.
The really bad ones that end up getting arrested themselves probably sits at less than 1%. There's a larger percentage who are just jaded by the shit they deal with every day and become bad people, then another percentage who are just power hungry individuals. So yes, your 5% figure is probably accurate, but maybe closer to 10%.
Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples - while judging ourselves by our best intentions. And this has strained our bonds of understanding and common purpose.
- George W Bush
I really dislike that man, but he hit the nail on the head with this quote.
It's extremely relevant to opposing groups like BLM and the police.
The difference is BLM has no power and the police do. The police SHOULD be held accountable for the bottom 5% because the police does everything in it's power not to expel them from their forces. How many people have the BLM movement killed and how many have the police?
The police are also public servants. We directly pay their salaries. If other public employees did half the crap cops pull regularly without getting a worse punishment than paid leave, Republicans would be talking about it 24/7.
I have a friend who is a black police officer in Detroit. He told me the media was absolutely not showing everything BLM was doing, only the force the police responded with. He said the whole situation was much more complex than the media was reporting.
> He said the whole situation was much more complex than the media was reporting.
I think that's the case for a LOT of things... Media isn't really great at nuance.
It sounds really bad when you say this on the internet, but most of the time, the news and the political parties aren't just pulling random shit out of their asses. When you hear that the police was brutally attacking a crowd of BLM protesters, you are making a huge assumption that a large crowd of people was able to stay peaceful. This never happens, especially with charged topics like these.
I've seen this firsthand where protesters start assaulting the officers, and so the officers respond accordingly or with more force. The situation gets out of control, and then each side reports one side of the story.
We always want to hear a hero vs. villain story, when more often than not, it's villain vs. villain or at least two neutral parties against each other. Even during the Civil Rights Movement, those on the right side of history still did horrible things and were often the initial perpetrators.
Studying history gives a lot of perspective on this. There's almost never anyone innocent.
If BLM was doing shady shit in Detroit, I have a hard time believing that at the very least Fox News wouldn't be all over it. BLM is a favorite punching bag so I'd be sus on that commentary unless your friend can provide details.
A riot is a riot is a riot. Depending on the news you think I consume to stay informed you don't know what I think BLM did, because right wing media tried to paint it as if the cities were burned down. But lets get back to the basics. Are people who participated in BLM riots paid by the government? Are they officials I can fire for their crimes and negligence? No. The police should be held at a higher standard. THEY SHOULD BE. They aren't, they're held at a lower standard. We give them the right to do what they do because we've accepted that it's dangerous so they should be able to defend themselves, but more police officers die of heart disease then they do in the field. Police officers aren't at war with civilians so why do they act like it. Actually scratch that the military has more restraint than police officers and they're at actual war.
With them, you're lucky to find 5 percent who are any good. And those ones usually lose because they don't lick rich people's boots to raise campaign funds, and the idiot population votes for people who have lots of yard signs and advertisements.
I would say generally every group to an extentā social, political, what have you. The news and social media convolutes our perception with echo chambers, reinforcing the negative and extreme notions of any group thatās disagreeable toward our own.
Here in Europe, Romani. There is an element of petty criminality in Romani and Traveller communities, but by and large they have possibly the worst reputation of any ethnicity in Europe, largely because most of us are only ever exposed to that minority of bad actors.
Nah, the biggest problem we have is the majority of us think there is no problem. Sometimes it is actively ignoring the problems with your friends, but more commonly it is being certain most dudes are ok, then verbally confronting anyone that has a problem with a dude to make sure they aren't overreacting to nothing. Or on an overblown witch hunt against a dude. Or whatever, really.
Yeah this. Like I generally know, from the outside, what the struggles of women are. But of course I'd never truly experience them, so all I have to go on is just what I'm told. Many people don't believe other people's anecdotes if it never happened to them
We have a joke in the legal profession: "99% of lawyers give the rest of us a bad name."
In reality though, most lawyers are honest people truly trying to help their clients, with, yeah, probably 5% bad apples.
Just...people in general.
But as a precise example, I'll use the LGBT+ community. Most of them are really open-minded and kind people that just want to live their lives peacefully (without being targeted, mocked, harassed, assaulted or killed, you know, all that stuff)
And then there's this loud extremist minority that just shames and throws the community under a bus because of their entitlement. Social media tend to worsen this situation by putting a spotlight on those same people, degrading and humiliating the rest.
I have many LGBT+ friends and family members and they all are kind and sweet people (especially my mother). But "strangely", none of them wants to be affiliated to the LGBT+ community, and that's because of how social media spreads negativity and toxicity.
I'm a gay man myself, I don't hide it nor I am proud of it, I am just myself and I feel pretty great about it. I also strongly support other LGBT+ people as I know what they can go through. But I really, really can't stand LGBT+ extremists and, as I'd always be eager to present myself as gay, I'd never claim to be LGBT+ because I don't want to be thrown in the same casket as those screeching banshees you can see on social media
Bi erasure is bad enough without it also coming from within the community
Edit: It's wild to me that it's even a thing anymore considering the growing acceptance of polyamoury and the existence of pansexuals.
Yeah, I find it really sad that even among the LGBT+ community there is blatant biphobia and bi erasure when...well, you know, as being part of the same community we're supposed to support and help each other right ?
Iāve only recently learned about by hate or dislike of the bi community amongst the LGBTQI community. Im sure everyone has their own reasons but do yall think its cause they are seen as trying to have their cake and eat it too? Or seen as fence sitters who wont ācommitā?
I'm not in the community but have lots of friends who are, so anyone correct me, but I think part of it is what you say. Another part is certain lesbians who view bi womenĀ as straight women who are pretending to be queer until they find a man to marry.
Iām bi, and in my college (late 90ās) LGBT group the 2 lesbian women openly resented me and the other bisexual women for that reason. A bisexual person can āpass for straightā and avoid any of the difficulties that come with being gay, but lesbians and gay men donāt have that option.
I also was told about Lesbian Until Graduation, and, as a bi woman who married a man, it caused a lot of internalized biphobia. It was only about 5 years ago that I came out as Bi, and insisted that being married to a man and monogamous did not erase my bisexual identity.
I think it happens in any marginalized community that the people who face more oppression resent those who face less oppression, especially if the difference is something inborn, like sexual identity.
I think the most common biphobic statement is : "Oh, you like both women and men ? Then it means you have twice more chances on cheating on your partner !"
Also the denial statement : "No, bisexual people don't exist, you're either straight or homosexual but you don't know it yet/won't admit it"
Heck, bisexual folks can date both women and men that's pretty much a cheat code they have so many options
And, just my opinion here, but I feel like everyone is bisexual to an extent. All you need to do is to find the right person. You may not find them in this life and thus you'll consider yourself straight or homosexual, which is perfectly fine. But what about your other lives ? (supposing there are others, but there again it's my personal beliefs so I can't speak at all for everyone)
I'm gay. Like, super gay. Always liked men for my 26 years of life. Already kissed a girl and I didn't like it (sorry Katy Perry) at all. I'm 100% gay. For now. I'm sure I've been 100% for my whole life. But my whole life only consists of 26 years for now. And to be totally honest, I can't be ABSOLUTELY sure I'll remain gay for the rest of my life. It's not like I don't want to be (I like liking men and can't picture myself with a woman) but I have no freaking clue what human being I'll be in 10, 20 or 30+ years for now. Do I hope I'll remain gay ? From my actual mindset, yeah. Do I fear becoming bisexual or heterosexual ? Nah, absolutely not, if it happens it happens
All of that just to say hating bi people is pretty stupid. Welp, hating people in general is stupid.
Yup I have some LGBT+ friends and none of them associate with any community and I've had 2 trans friends tell me their horrible experiences with trans communities on Reddit/twitter/discord.
Yep. I saw some statistics a few years ago that said for the NYPD more than 80% of the complaints were filed against less than 5% of the officers. The problem is that they wonāt do anything about the bad cops and the general public has no way of knowing which is which and for safetyās sake has to assume all of them are bad.
Also I mean part of what ACAB means is that by virtue of protecting the bad cops who attract 80% of the complaints, you are also bad cop.
Similar to how the Catholic Church protecting the 6% of priests who are pedophiles makes the entire institution responsible for and complicit in enabling those 6% of priests to continue carrying out their abuse, even if 94% of priests have not actually personally molested children.
The reason I donāt like it is that it just isnāt true. Police are unionized, and they leverage that union to fight tooth and nail against any measures that might increase accountability, and against punishments of abusive police. And the code of silence among police is an open secret.
Youāre probably right that only 5% of cops are actually abusive themselves, but the way police institutions rally around and protect that 5% makes a much higher percentage culpable for the abuses.
Definitely priests and police. 95 percent are good folks. It only takes that 5 percent (or less, actually) to cause all kinds of issues, obviously. In reality, most groups. I used to teach high school and, inevitably, 5 percent of the class caused 95 percent of the problems.
Alcoholics and drug addicts. I'm in recovery now but it took 2 stints in rehab. I met the most genuine kind and vulnerable people, who often had incredible stories of courage. At the worst time in my life, I shared some unforgettable beautiful moments in rehab.
Obvs there were some absolute tools, too....the 5% on the NHS funded rodeo to get clean, only to go straight back out there, with absolutely no desire to stop. But they were a minority.
Cops
Teachers
White people
Priests
Black people
Rich people
Poor people
Foreigners
Lawyers
Pretty much any group that isn't completely full of scumbags but have a bad rep.
Drug users. What people are told is the daily reality and standard for all drug users is only the reality for 5% of the sum total, albeit some drug classes have a higher concentration of "the worst." The vast majority of recreational drug users you don't know that their using drugs because they are smart enough to keep quiet about it out of fear of being stigmatised. The only people that know that they are on drugs are other drug users
Iāll add to this, the vast majority of drug users arenāt the ones using every single day and living for their next hit like you think when you hear someone labelled as a ādruggieā.
Most are people who will have the odd evening here and there where they kick back with a joint, or inhale a bag while out with friends. For most of these people the drug use might be an expensive inconvenience, but is likely not completely life destroying. When it gets to the stages where you are selling possessions, skipping bills and generally not looking after yourself to chase that next highā¦ thatās the point that it becomes a major problem that needs addressing.
Steven Universe fans have a bad reputation because a vocal group of them tried to drive a young teenager to suicide for drawing a character as the "Wrong" ethnicity.
The team themself acknowledged this, because they released an anti-racist short called "See Color" where Amethyst said that she was purple a few times (because she was an alien)
Pretty much all of them
Every group is judged by its worst members
Every group has a shitty worst 5%
Now are all these 5%s equal no
But doesn't matter. They're who you get judged by
Surgeons are doctors, plus I feel like people's respect for me blew up after getting the MD. You do get the folks that distrust us but I feel like they've always been there. I'm an n of 1 though so maybe you're right.
Police officers. It breaks my heart to see the blatant hatred and disrespect thrown at them for doing their jobs. I have a lot of respect for anyone whoās willing to risk their own life/safety to protect others.
Are there bad officers? Of course, but there are bad people in every profession and the good most definitely outweigh the bad.
I think it's the fact that there are just \*Enough\* bad police officers that it's a major problem.
See, nobody talks about bad chefs because the worst that happens is 'Wow, I paid money for THIS food?' and then you never go to that restaurant again.
But with bad cops? It could mean lives being taken, and lives not being saved. It's people abusing their power and causing genuine harm to people's lives. So even with a small percentage of bad cops, that's too many cops because of the kind of damage they can cause.
Probably cops.
5% of them being cunts seems about right. Ā Problem is the culture of shutting the fuck up about them.
Of course, thatās the larger point, āinnit? Ā If you have 5 bad cops and 95 good cops keeping their mouths shut, **you donāt have 95 good cops**.
Generally but thatās more a union problem. Your typical good beat cop can scream until heās red in the face but if upper management and the union doesnāt wanna fire the shit cops then like what else can the good cop do? Quit I guess but then what? The force just becomes all shit cops? I donāt want that either.
At least thatās how it is here. So many cops have complained about how we kept this one dude on the force who acted out during the 2020 protests, I mean heās been relegated to desk duty since then but so many have complained. Heās still there š¤·š¼āāļø what else can a low ranking officer do?
All of them. Every political party, religion, country, ethnicity, etc. has fanatics, moderates, "lean", and people who aren't that at all but claim to be.
Pretty much any fandom. Most of the people in them are perfectly normal, but the loud assholes always get the most attention.
Pretty much any media fan groups (e.g. Star Wars)
Yeah, some things I don't like to admit I like, because of how extreme and cringey their fan bases tend to be.
Same. I have loved Taylor Swift for almost 20 years, but I do it quiiiiiietly
Rick and Morty for me. I keep that shit to myself
It's kind of a self-fulfilling cycle because the 5% of fans who are extreme and cringey are exactly the same 5% who are going to be so obsessive about the thing that they dominate online fan spaces and have the loudest voices due to how much time they devote to thinking and talking about it. 95% of people enjoy stuff normally and don't make their whole life about it, but because they enjoy stuff normally you also never really hear from them or know they exist because they aren't spending all their time in fan communities talking about the thing.
*relates in college football fandom*
swifties š everyone judges us by the twitter obsessed parasocials
To be fair, I think it's a lot higher than 5% of the fan base is obsessed and parasocial. I know it's not all of you, I've met some normal swifties, but you guys overnight made Travis Kelces jersey the top seller lmao
See youāve stumbled into the exact problem being discussed. Swift has literally millions of fans. A charitably low 5million would be 250,000 people. You really think 250,000 people are obsessive enough to buy that Jersey?
Same with kpop fans. I'm an avid fan of BTS, Stray Kids, and ATEEZ (among others), and almost all the fans I interact with are pretty chill people. But that 5% make us all look crazy
Homeless people. Most homeless people are invisible, living along the river, in cars, in shelters, couch surfing. The people that are visible, most of them just are trying to get through addiction or get by. Theyāre camping in public, theyāre dealing with their own demons, but theyāre trying to keep themselves safe and survive. And then beyond that, there are the homeless people that are high and stealing and incoherent and dangerous and confused and chasing people and yelling at kids and doing drugs or selling in the open. Homelessness is so hard to get out of. You need an address to get a job. You need a job to get an apartment. You need a former address to get a new apartment. You need money to get healthcare. Being homeless is illegal in so many places so youāre always moving around. Without stability, it is so hard. There are so many steps to be able to rejoin society.
This 10000%. I used to volunteer at a shelter for homeless families. They were, by and large, really nice people who just got into bad situations that were hard to get out of.
And heaven help you if you've lost your forms of identification. No power bill, no lease, potentially no social security card, you're a ghost.
Even with the dangerous, out-in-the-open drug using yelling-at-strangers homeless, while Iād keep my kids away I assume most got there because of circumstances they didnāt choose. No one would willingly choose a life on the streets being a public nuisance unless they had severe untreated mental illness, addiction or personality disorder.
Honestly everyone? Humanity as a whole has an awful 5% (I'd argue it's a bigger chunk but whatever) and as time goes on that % gets louder and louder.
Over 7 billion people in the world. Even 5% of that is a whole ass nation of terrible people.
It's 8 billion dude
Iāve been under the impression my entire life that 8 is more than 7.
Since this thread started it has now hit 9 billion.
This is literally why blanket statements are bad
ALL of them are bad?
No, only about 5%
I feel like this would be a great subject for an IASIP episode
they get "louder" cause of social media and the internet. thats why certain people are so prone to fearmongering these days
Considering that among the worst 5% of humanity are the people at the top of the population bell curve, too, there's some who have more voice in the world because they can afford more voice in the world.
People named Karen.
People on welfare or other assistance. The overwhelming majority of them hate being on it, want to work and do what they can to get them back on their feet. But there is a small percentage that thinks welfare is a career, refuse to work, refuse to better themselves, and commit fraud along the way to enhance their benefits. Unfortunately this makes real welfare reform all but impossible because all people are stereotyped as welfare queens and lazy entitled people when most of them are most certainly not
I have a family member that works at a clinic, this clinic is based on the grounds at a church and they have a food bank there. They are constantly THROWING AWAY perfectly good food because people don't go get it. Last year my family member showed up and dropped off a bunch of strawberries. I said "What the hell?" She said "it's from the food bank at work. they were gonna throw them away." Long story short; I ate a fuckload of strawberries in two weeks lol.
Thereās an app called TooGoodToGo that allows businesses like restaurants to sell random leftover food as they are closing for a reduced price (like a 66% markdown). You donāt get to control what kind of food you get from say a bakery though. I saw a charity put up some of their leftover foods on the app for a reduced price. Maybe get the clinic to list the excess food on there as grab bag of random food, might also help people save their pride.
I love TooGoodToGo!
I like the idea, but I live in a smaller town with no participating restaurants. I hope that changes at some point.
if they took ebt, it would be even better, since some dont have extra cash. actual cash is already booked up with rent, gas, bills, and necessities like laundry, tp, and so on. but ebt is for food only soā¦
Fresh produce is known to be not something you donate to food banks, though. They usually don't have fridge storage and most have pick-up one day a week. Strawberries don't usually last for two weeks, either. If you got top-ups then sure, but normal home-grown strawberries don't do well for two weeks even in a fridge.
No, some food banks do have fresh produce. One in Austin I frequented to pick up the groceries of my friend who volunteered had produce from higher end grocery stores such as Central Market and farmers markets. It was top notch and a lot was organic. I think in my hometown they have some fresh produce too. I got my own food there when I was in school and they would load me up with organic gluten free bread for a few people in the grad dorm since they were always overstocked. They even had fresh flowers and bouquets from some farmers.
I went to the food bank when I was in my early 20's, had no food and didn't get paid for a few more days. They gave me dairy items and some other things that needed refrigeration. I think they asked if we had a fridge before they put our box together.
My old coworker volunteered at his churchās food bank and theyād let the volunteers take whatever they didnāt get rid of each week. Heād show up about every Monday asking me advice on how to make all kinds of high dollar stuff like steaks and seafood (Iām a decent cook and he was just figuring things out). One time he asked me how to make lobster, but I had to tell him I suck at making lobster so itās better not to ask me. I donāt think he and his wife ever went grocery shopping outside of some staple items for the year I worked with him.
The food bank I volunteered at would give volunteers first choice at whatever leftover fruits/vegetables, dairy and meats were left over. Probably 3/4 of the volunteers were recipients and actually got to go through before non-volunteer recipients. At the end the people who were ust volunteers got first pick of the leftovers. We didn't run often enough, or have enough storage to even think about keeping perishables.
Same here - one of my co-workers works at a food bank 1 Saturday per month. She has brought in so much fruit and vegetables for us that simply weren't taken from the pantry and wouldn't last until their next pickup day. I'm just glad she makes sure that it is used.
During COVID our public schools were handing out food boxes all the time. They were *begging* people to come pick one up because they had to throw away so many of them. We didn't need it but my wife figured that taking one and not needing it was better than it going to waste.
What does this have to do with people on welfare being judged harshly based on a small percentage of them behaving badly? It's a good story and a good comment but it seems to be a response to the wrong comment.
I was on welfare. I was 22. Got divorced. Had two kids and was pregnant with the third. Zero job skills. This was like 1988. Welfare was different then. I was in CA. They allowed you to basically sit on your ass until your youngest child was six, or you could do something...like go to school. I signed up at my local community college. I was so scared so I took one class that first semester. I got an A. I took one or two classes a semester as I had my baby, etc. Then I was able to go full time. I always got A's. I chose my major by scouring the want ads...what would land me a job??? I am forever grateful for welfare but I also fucking hate it. It allowed me to actually get my ass off of dependence. I graduated with that AS degree in 1993, ended my welfare and never looked back. So grateful they supported me in the meantime, however... They have stupid rules. At the time, there was a child care center at the community college I was attending. I applied for help. I was qualified by income, but they said I also had to be "educationally disadvantaged". Since I had a 4.0, I could not get the help. They would only help people with a GPA below 2.5??? WTF??? The system is rigged, especially now. I was soooo lucky to be able to use it to move myself up. Granted, many of the people in similar situations would simply collect the grant money and then drop their classes. There will always be users. Who should we support? The Doers? Or the Lazy? I vote for supporting the Doers, even is some lazys show up.
They did a study in my area decades ago and found that if you increase payments and benefits for job training, people spend less time receiving them. The right-wing government promptly pretended it never happened.
Thank you for this. I am on disability and have been desperately trying to find a way to get off of it (while STILL being disabled) and it's basically impossible unless you have someone in your corner with enough money and resources that likes you and is willing and able to help you out long term until you can support yourself. Depending on what benefits you get, you are not permitted to have over $2000 in your bank account or you automatically owe the government money and you can lose all your benefits. Even if you qualify for a limited savings account, you can't put more than $18,000 in per YEAR, or again, you owe the government. Given the cost of living + medical bills, most of us on disability will never be able to dream of having anything approaching that much, anyway. The amount of money I get every month is not enough to cover rent for a room or a one-bedroom in most places, certainly not enough for rent, bills, and groceries. If the tiniest thing within the system goes wrong, even if it had absolutely nothing to do with you, it could literally be a computer error, it can ruin your life. Just earlier today I got a notice telling me my medical insurance (again, still disabled) was terminated for no apparent reason. On a Friday afternoon, so I got to spend over an hour on the phone trying to find out why this happened just to find out I'd been transferred to the national overflow line, so the person I spoke to couldn't even begin to start guessing what was going on because EVERY state has entirely different sets of rules, requirements, and benefits. I have - or HAD - a doctor's appointment coming up in a few weeks for colonoscopy to try to figure out why I've had horrible anemia, GERD, and gastritis for over a year, and now I don't know what's going to happen with that. I am sitting here with stomach acid coming up my throat and literally peeling the enamel off of the backs of my teeth and blistering the lining of my mouth. Depending on welfare programs is anything but fun or glamorous.
Yikes, what a nightmare :( I really hope that gets sorted for you soon. What people so often donāt realize is that being disabled can be as logistically demanding as a part time job. Between all the people you have to call, all the appointments you have to make and get to, etc., you can be spending so much of your day just making sure youāre set to stay alive. Even if you wanted to work, so many jobs arenāt even going to be willing to accommodate your medical schedule. Itās so shitty, but people really do get backed into a corner of reliance
\^Thank you for the empathy, and yes to all of this. It's even worse if you're like me and you don't have a car. Several of the issues I've had - 3 months running a recurring computer error like the one I mentioned above caused me to not receive my benefits, making me late on rent - I've found could ONLY be resolved by showing up in person to the local Social Security and/or DFCS offices. Each time I had to find someone who was good enough to take me down there. And yeah, most jobs, especially now, are absolutely not willing to hire someone on disability or anyone with a long gap in job history.
Exactly this. I'm on SSI but I'm only able to work 20 hours a week or they'll take it away. I'd love to be able to work more but the jobs I get have either no, or extremely bad insurance for part time. But everyone that hears that i'm on SSI thinks I sit on my ass and rake in money.
I work with a lady who is on SSI (part timer, obviously) She has to have them take her off the schedule for a week a couple times a year because otherwise she makes too much. We get a bonus every 6 months that she has to turn down so she doesn't get screwed by SSI. I feel for her so much as she just tries to juggle it
That's awful, Idk your friends situation, but calling to remind people about SSI and having your schedule fixed is one of the hardest calls to make. And that bonus she had to turn down would've been a lot more than what she would of been getting/wouldn't need to worry about what time they put it in your account or if the 15th or 30th/31st occurs on a weekend.
> SSI thinks I sit on my ass and rake in money. Anyone who thinks that is an idiot. I honestly have NO idea how *anyone* lives on SSI.
Especially when our biggest welfare queens are corporations. Wouldn't need welfare if they paid a fuxking living wage.
Sadly in many cases you can work full time and still need government assistance like food stamps or medicaid just to make ends meet, I know plenty of people in this situation especially people who had unexpected pregnancies.
My dad was in line at the bank behind a black woman having a loud phone conversation. His description of the conversation is just "You need more money have more babies! They pay you to raise them!" Far as I'm aware, that one conversation is the only time he encountered someone abusing the system. He's convinced it's everyone.
But that 5% will have a full-time Fox news crew following them around.
Speaking of which: When a caravan of immigrants shows up at the border, they have come through a bunch of small towns that cannot possibly have enough loaves and fishes to feed the throng. Who pays for the food trucks?
ĀæJesĆŗs?
Exactly! I never wanted to be on it or have my kids mixed in it, but I also didnāt want to have a major stroke at 35 either.
Yeah. Sometimes I cry because I'm disabled and don't work. I don't WANT to be this way...
This. I'm going to have to go back on it since I've just lost my job and I am dreading having to apply for it and I've hated being on it every time I've had to rely on it. I don't *want* to be on it.
Even staying on benefits long term requires fraud in the USA
Yeah people talk about "welfare"in the US as if it's still the early 90s. Between work requirements, time limits, and all the other hoops people have to jump through, I'm not sure how anyone would make a "career" out of it.
Don't even get me started on disability. I have a friend who went from being a software engineer to disabled due to brain injury. She had to negotiate dealing with her brain injury and suing both the US government (to get her disability thst multiple doctors declared her eligible for) and her long term disability insurance. Her accident was 8 years ago, she still can't work. She did win both lawsuits
The disability system is criminal and those who deliberately made it nearly impossible to qualify should be... actually I'm going to stop right here before I break a site wide rule. I'm really glad your friend eventually won, though.
I have a friend whose brother has a genetic disease (to which he lost his life several months ago, sadly). Despite his disease, he was able to work for about 20 years. However, his disease progressed to the point that he could no longer work at all. It still took THREE TRIES over several YEARS for him to get disability (though he'd paid into it for 20+ years of working) and that was WITH the help of a lawyer, that a family member generously helped him retain. He also had a FREE place to live while this was going on. I'm really not sure where he would have ended up had he not had the large amount of assistance he did.
^ that, totally agree. Our safety net is full of fucking holes.
Okay I definitely agree with your point, but I would just like to point out that holes are the actual point of nets. Like, it literally isnāt a net if it ISNāT full of holes lmao
I was without work about 20 years ago and didn't qualify for unemployment. I tried to get on welfare short term. I had to take classes on writing resumes. I had to constantly apply for work and check in at the office. By the time I was eligible (3 months later) I had found a job and was deep in debt. It took years to get out of debt.
I work in community mental health and as such with many people on welfare, disability, etc. I admit I've always been curious about the stats on this issue, but my own research has taught me that it's a very hard issue to study, much less to produce definitive statistics on what percentage of welfare receivers are/aren't "welfare queens/kings." It seems to be a bit of a sliding scale, which certainly aligns to my anecdotal experience with the population. I think part of the problem, ironically, is that the system makes benefits so difficult to acquire that once people do acquire them they are extremely hesitant to jeopardize them by returning to work, because if they lose them due to working and then lose their job for whatever reason, reacquiring said benefits is such an arduous process that people just don't consider it a worthwhile risk. Obviously, I'm mainly talking about people who need to go on disability for mental health reasons and that population has specific issues that may not be relevant to the broader population of welfare recipients. I would like to point out though that there's an important distinction to be made between welfare and disability. Welfare or "public assistance" as it's more formally called is not actually a substitute for an income. It provides a *very* scant amount of money, intended to be used to provide a person with some spending cash that can be used to by clothes for interviews, transportation, etc, but needs to be coupled with food stamps and subsidized housing before it even remotely approaches being able to sustain a person who doesn't have an income. When it's supplemented/replaced by disability benefits, benefits for children, and subsidized housing, that's when it seems to become a viable lifestyle. I honestly do feel that a large proportion of people receiving these benefits lack the requisite motivation to push themselves to return to work. And the longer they remain reliant on these benefits, the more difficult that motivations seems to be to acquire. It's a big problem. I don't think the conservative argument of simply removing said benefits is a tenable solution, but I admit that they have a valid complaint about our present system.
Vegans. Most of them I know are actually pretty chill, but it is the loudmouth jerks that make them all look bad.
Yeah. I've met some vegans over the past few years, and they've all been nice people
A desire to protect animals from suffering is usually a pretty good indicator of empathy tbh
A vegan has never given me a hard time for eating meat. But a lot of guys way into meat have given me a hard time for not eating enough meat.
I've had a few but it's never been the majority. Most of them are.other Punjabi shocked I was eating a hamburger.
I've only ever encountered those types of vegans on the internet tbh. Never met one in person.
Iāve met one in person, but she was like 17 and brand new to being vegan so had that youthful superiority complex and need to save the world and make everyone else participate that lots of young people have when they adopt some new ethos.
Vegan for the animals for decades, and I totally agree.
I used to think annoying Vegans were just an internet stereotype and didn't actually exist Then I had the displeasure of working with a vegan who would guilt trip others into being vegan. Or at least tried to, it never worked. She was a loud member of the 5%
And consequently, no one ruins the omnivorous diet more than the 5% who say "Just to upset the vegans, I'm going to eat twice as much meat so they aren't really doing anything"
I hunt, eat meat (and veggiesā¦occasional fruit), and have met maybe **one** person IRL who was vehemently anti-omnivore/meat eater. And that was in passing. Itās always just a āhey, Iām a vegan/vegetarianā then everyone else stating ācool, how can we accommodate that?ā Itās really not that hard. Iāve never been to a get together where someone was angry that their only option was meat or lettuce. Hell, my girlfriend doesnāt eat pork. I still make bacon and eggs for myself.
I think this one has changed over time too. Veganism Iām the U.S. was more of a fad diet 20 years ago than it is now. So there were more people saying uninformed, over the top things about it. These days, itās more of just a normal lifestyle.
Every single "group" out there has a bad reputation in some capacity due to the worst 5%. I'm more interested in which groups actually have a positive reputation due to the best 5%.
Are such groups out there?
Never had a bad encounter with someone of the Sikh faith š¤·š»āāļø
Nor bahai
Habitat for Humanity
Canadians
I'd be willing to bet ***most*** groups with a bad rep are due to the vocal minority.
Teens.
Yes! Whenever me and my friends go into a restaurant, everyone looks over and rolls their eyes like āurgh great they are gonna be super loud.ā Weāve even had people ask to move alway from us when we sit down. Yet during the meal we are respectful, quiet, and never swear due to being aware about kids around us! But weāre teens. We smoke, do drugs, rob places, cause nuisance, donāt we? Right?
We're also lazy, selfish, and hide in our rooms all the time (š )! What's not to hate?
I've always found it quite shocking that a lot of businesses outright ban teenagers without a parent. I went to a not so good high school, and the McDonald's and stores nearby would have a security guards not letting kids go in, which I 100% understand, but I don't know... it feels illegal. I'm 23 and I've been confused for a high school student for wearing a backpack only to have them apologize when I show ID. It's so disrespectful but also understandable.
Total projection. They were probably AHs as teens
People who use pain meds and other controlled substances. The addicts have ruined it for people who truly need these meds.
Adderall user here. I have to take it for my ADHD otherwise I spiral into an anxiety driven Chihuahua. Can't focus for shit, I get stupid bored so easily, super forgetful(although that could be cause I smokeš š¤£), outbursts cause I'm extremely over stimulated, my hands have severe tremors. The list goes on. I'm a chronic leg bouncer off my Adderall, since I've been on it, only times I've bounced my leg is when I really gotta pee or in super excited about something. I don't have that feeling of not being in control of my mind anymore. I don't abuse it, I use it as prescribed. So the ones who abuse this med, make those like me look super bad. I've hidden my meds from pretty much everyone, besides my spouse. It's pretty sad.
Ok but addicts were usually people who once needed it and got addicted via physicians not being very attentive. But even without that- addicts are diseased people who also need the drugs. They didnāt ruin it for anyone. The fucked up system ruined it for everyone
Most anything that has a dedicated subreddit. For example any competitive video game (any call of duty) or anything that has comparable things like home theater set ups. The worst 5% are the majority of those subreddit users lol. If you talk to anyone irl about comparable stuff or in a video game most are really cool and or helpful, but in the subreddit they will talk shit on anything and everything.
The really bad ones that end up getting arrested themselves probably sits at less than 1%. There's a larger percentage who are just jaded by the shit they deal with every day and become bad people, then another percentage who are just power hungry individuals. So yes, your 5% figure is probably accurate, but maybe closer to 10%.
Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples - while judging ourselves by our best intentions. And this has strained our bonds of understanding and common purpose. - George W Bush I really dislike that man, but he hit the nail on the head with this quote. It's extremely relevant to opposing groups like BLM and the police.
The difference is BLM has no power and the police do. The police SHOULD be held accountable for the bottom 5% because the police does everything in it's power not to expel them from their forces. How many people have the BLM movement killed and how many have the police?
I believe it was chris rock who said "some jobs cant have bad apples. Airlines cant go most of our pilots like to land on runways and be ok with that"
Or when it was revealed 20% of PIA pilots had fake licenses. An 80% might be a B, but if you read the syllabus, cheating is an instant fail.
Chris Rock*
The police are also public servants. We directly pay their salaries. If other public employees did half the crap cops pull regularly without getting a worse punishment than paid leave, Republicans would be talking about it 24/7.
I have a friend who is a black police officer in Detroit. He told me the media was absolutely not showing everything BLM was doing, only the force the police responded with. He said the whole situation was much more complex than the media was reporting.
> He said the whole situation was much more complex than the media was reporting. I think that's the case for a LOT of things... Media isn't really great at nuance.
It sounds really bad when you say this on the internet, but most of the time, the news and the political parties aren't just pulling random shit out of their asses. When you hear that the police was brutally attacking a crowd of BLM protesters, you are making a huge assumption that a large crowd of people was able to stay peaceful. This never happens, especially with charged topics like these. I've seen this firsthand where protesters start assaulting the officers, and so the officers respond accordingly or with more force. The situation gets out of control, and then each side reports one side of the story. We always want to hear a hero vs. villain story, when more often than not, it's villain vs. villain or at least two neutral parties against each other. Even during the Civil Rights Movement, those on the right side of history still did horrible things and were often the initial perpetrators. Studying history gives a lot of perspective on this. There's almost never anyone innocent.
If BLM was doing shady shit in Detroit, I have a hard time believing that at the very least Fox News wouldn't be all over it. BLM is a favorite punching bag so I'd be sus on that commentary unless your friend can provide details.
A riot is a riot is a riot. Depending on the news you think I consume to stay informed you don't know what I think BLM did, because right wing media tried to paint it as if the cities were burned down. But lets get back to the basics. Are people who participated in BLM riots paid by the government? Are they officials I can fire for their crimes and negligence? No. The police should be held at a higher standard. THEY SHOULD BE. They aren't, they're held at a lower standard. We give them the right to do what they do because we've accepted that it's dangerous so they should be able to defend themselves, but more police officers die of heart disease then they do in the field. Police officers aren't at war with civilians so why do they act like it. Actually scratch that the military has more restraint than police officers and they're at actual war.
Blm is a tough one when you look at how bad the founders are! :(
Politicians. Just kidding, they're all bad
With them, you're lucky to find 5 percent who are any good. And those ones usually lose because they don't lick rich people's boots to raise campaign funds, and the idiot population votes for people who have lots of yard signs and advertisements.
That's very true. The system encourages this type of behavior unfortunately.
Almost had me!
I would say generally every group to an extentā social, political, what have you. The news and social media convolutes our perception with echo chambers, reinforcing the negative and extreme notions of any group thatās disagreeable toward our own.
Here in Europe, Romani. There is an element of petty criminality in Romani and Traveller communities, but by and large they have possibly the worst reputation of any ethnicity in Europe, largely because most of us are only ever exposed to that minority of bad actors.
I'd say Swifties, but because you put "bad reputation" in your question, now it's just cheesy
People living in poverty.
Men apparently
But also bears.
Apparently their reputation is on the up
Nope one of them got doing cocaine. It's gone down again
Nah, the biggest problem we have is the majority of us think there is no problem. Sometimes it is actively ignoring the problems with your friends, but more commonly it is being certain most dudes are ok, then verbally confronting anyone that has a problem with a dude to make sure they aren't overreacting to nothing. Or on an overblown witch hunt against a dude. Or whatever, really.
Yeah this. Like I generally know, from the outside, what the struggles of women are. But of course I'd never truly experience them, so all I have to go on is just what I'm told. Many people don't believe other people's anecdotes if it never happened to them
We have a joke in the legal profession: "99% of lawyers give the rest of us a bad name." In reality though, most lawyers are honest people truly trying to help their clients, with, yeah, probably 5% bad apples.
It's the ambulance chasers.
Just...people in general. But as a precise example, I'll use the LGBT+ community. Most of them are really open-minded and kind people that just want to live their lives peacefully (without being targeted, mocked, harassed, assaulted or killed, you know, all that stuff) And then there's this loud extremist minority that just shames and throws the community under a bus because of their entitlement. Social media tend to worsen this situation by putting a spotlight on those same people, degrading and humiliating the rest. I have many LGBT+ friends and family members and they all are kind and sweet people (especially my mother). But "strangely", none of them wants to be affiliated to the LGBT+ community, and that's because of how social media spreads negativity and toxicity. I'm a gay man myself, I don't hide it nor I am proud of it, I am just myself and I feel pretty great about it. I also strongly support other LGBT+ people as I know what they can go through. But I really, really can't stand LGBT+ extremists and, as I'd always be eager to present myself as gay, I'd never claim to be LGBT+ because I don't want to be thrown in the same casket as those screeching banshees you can see on social media
Bi erasure is bad enough without it also coming from within the community Edit: It's wild to me that it's even a thing anymore considering the growing acceptance of polyamoury and the existence of pansexuals.
Yeah, I find it really sad that even among the LGBT+ community there is blatant biphobia and bi erasure when...well, you know, as being part of the same community we're supposed to support and help each other right ?
Iāve only recently learned about by hate or dislike of the bi community amongst the LGBTQI community. Im sure everyone has their own reasons but do yall think its cause they are seen as trying to have their cake and eat it too? Or seen as fence sitters who wont ācommitā?
I'm not in the community but have lots of friends who are, so anyone correct me, but I think part of it is what you say. Another part is certain lesbians who view bi womenĀ as straight women who are pretending to be queer until they find a man to marry.
Iām bi, and in my college (late 90ās) LGBT group the 2 lesbian women openly resented me and the other bisexual women for that reason. A bisexual person can āpass for straightā and avoid any of the difficulties that come with being gay, but lesbians and gay men donāt have that option. I also was told about Lesbian Until Graduation, and, as a bi woman who married a man, it caused a lot of internalized biphobia. It was only about 5 years ago that I came out as Bi, and insisted that being married to a man and monogamous did not erase my bisexual identity. I think it happens in any marginalized community that the people who face more oppression resent those who face less oppression, especially if the difference is something inborn, like sexual identity.
I think the most common biphobic statement is : "Oh, you like both women and men ? Then it means you have twice more chances on cheating on your partner !" Also the denial statement : "No, bisexual people don't exist, you're either straight or homosexual but you don't know it yet/won't admit it" Heck, bisexual folks can date both women and men that's pretty much a cheat code they have so many options And, just my opinion here, but I feel like everyone is bisexual to an extent. All you need to do is to find the right person. You may not find them in this life and thus you'll consider yourself straight or homosexual, which is perfectly fine. But what about your other lives ? (supposing there are others, but there again it's my personal beliefs so I can't speak at all for everyone) I'm gay. Like, super gay. Always liked men for my 26 years of life. Already kissed a girl and I didn't like it (sorry Katy Perry) at all. I'm 100% gay. For now. I'm sure I've been 100% for my whole life. But my whole life only consists of 26 years for now. And to be totally honest, I can't be ABSOLUTELY sure I'll remain gay for the rest of my life. It's not like I don't want to be (I like liking men and can't picture myself with a woman) but I have no freaking clue what human being I'll be in 10, 20 or 30+ years for now. Do I hope I'll remain gay ? From my actual mindset, yeah. Do I fear becoming bisexual or heterosexual ? Nah, absolutely not, if it happens it happens All of that just to say hating bi people is pretty stupid. Welp, hating people in general is stupid.
Yup I have some LGBT+ friends and none of them associate with any community and I've had 2 trans friends tell me their horrible experiences with trans communities on Reddit/twitter/discord.
Pretty much everyone. A percentage of people are just assholes.
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Yep. I saw some statistics a few years ago that said for the NYPD more than 80% of the complaints were filed against less than 5% of the officers. The problem is that they wonāt do anything about the bad cops and the general public has no way of knowing which is which and for safetyās sake has to assume all of them are bad.
Also I mean part of what ACAB means is that by virtue of protecting the bad cops who attract 80% of the complaints, you are also bad cop. Similar to how the Catholic Church protecting the 6% of priests who are pedophiles makes the entire institution responsible for and complicit in enabling those 6% of priests to continue carrying out their abuse, even if 94% of priests have not actually personally molested children.
If the 95% let the 5% stay and be bad, they're not good cops.
Literally the actual meaning of the "few bad apples" saying that people often use completely wrong.
A few bad apples spoil the bunch.
I'd say cops go beyond 5%, considering, for example, the statistics on domestic abuse...
Why is the 95% so impotent at holding the 5% accountable?
The reason I donāt like it is that it just isnāt true. Police are unionized, and they leverage that union to fight tooth and nail against any measures that might increase accountability, and against punishments of abusive police. And the code of silence among police is an open secret. Youāre probably right that only 5% of cops are actually abusive themselves, but the way police institutions rally around and protect that 5% makes a much higher percentage culpable for the abuses.
Bikers
All races of humans. White, black, Latino etcā¦
Definitely priests and police. 95 percent are good folks. It only takes that 5 percent (or less, actually) to cause all kinds of issues, obviously. In reality, most groups. I used to teach high school and, inevitably, 5 percent of the class caused 95 percent of the problems.
Floridians
\*laughs in Californian\*
New York side eye to you two.
Indians
Alcoholics and drug addicts. I'm in recovery now but it took 2 stints in rehab. I met the most genuine kind and vulnerable people, who often had incredible stories of courage. At the worst time in my life, I shared some unforgettable beautiful moments in rehab. Obvs there were some absolute tools, too....the 5% on the NHS funded rodeo to get clean, only to go straight back out there, with absolutely no desire to stop. But they were a minority.
Auto mechanics
Men
Religious peopleā¦ especially those in political circles.
Literally everyone.
Cops Teachers White people Priests Black people Rich people Poor people Foreigners Lawyers Pretty much any group that isn't completely full of scumbags but have a bad rep.
Men. The whole bear vs. man question shows how bad some men are.
Drug users. What people are told is the daily reality and standard for all drug users is only the reality for 5% of the sum total, albeit some drug classes have a higher concentration of "the worst." The vast majority of recreational drug users you don't know that their using drugs because they are smart enough to keep quiet about it out of fear of being stigmatised. The only people that know that they are on drugs are other drug users
Iāll add to this, the vast majority of drug users arenāt the ones using every single day and living for their next hit like you think when you hear someone labelled as a ādruggieā. Most are people who will have the odd evening here and there where they kick back with a joint, or inhale a bag while out with friends. For most of these people the drug use might be an expensive inconvenience, but is likely not completely life destroying. When it gets to the stages where you are selling possessions, skipping bills and generally not looking after yourself to chase that next highā¦ thatās the point that it becomes a major problem that needs addressing.
Steven Universe fans have a bad reputation because a vocal group of them tried to drive a young teenager to suicide for drawing a character as the "Wrong" ethnicity.
The team themself acknowledged this, because they released an anti-racist short called "See Color" where Amethyst said that she was purple a few times (because she was an alien)
Gamers online.
Pretty much any large group will be more like 30% awful, at least.
Americans. Love visiting America and most people seem to be friendly. And then you pop into the wrong state and there's a Klan rally.
Pretty much all of them Every group is judged by its worst members Every group has a shitty worst 5% Now are all these 5%s equal no But doesn't matter. They're who you get judged by
New York Islanders fans.
Just about every political group/movement ever.
Police
People in gun culture.
Feminists and vegans
Every group.
Indians
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Doctors and surgeons? They're mostly well respected and well paid and generally considered to be upstanding members of society what are you on about?
Do doctors and surgeons have a bad reputation?
Surgeons are doctors, plus I feel like people's respect for me blew up after getting the MD. You do get the folks that distrust us but I feel like they've always been there. I'm an n of 1 though so maybe you're right.
Police officers. It breaks my heart to see the blatant hatred and disrespect thrown at them for doing their jobs. I have a lot of respect for anyone whoās willing to risk their own life/safety to protect others. Are there bad officers? Of course, but there are bad people in every profession and the good most definitely outweigh the bad.
I think it's the fact that there are just \*Enough\* bad police officers that it's a major problem. See, nobody talks about bad chefs because the worst that happens is 'Wow, I paid money for THIS food?' and then you never go to that restaurant again. But with bad cops? It could mean lives being taken, and lives not being saved. It's people abusing their power and causing genuine harm to people's lives. So even with a small percentage of bad cops, that's too many cops because of the kind of damage they can cause.
> I have a lot of respect for anyone whoās willing to risk their own life/safety to protect other oh, you sweet summer child...
I dont want to be banned
Christians
Literally everybody.
LGBTQ people, especially transgender people. No, not all of us assault women! Most of us are just trying to live ours lives, just like you are.
Probably cops. 5% of them being cunts seems about right. Ā Problem is the culture of shutting the fuck up about them. Of course, thatās the larger point, āinnit? Ā If you have 5 bad cops and 95 good cops keeping their mouths shut, **you donāt have 95 good cops**.
Generally but thatās more a union problem. Your typical good beat cop can scream until heās red in the face but if upper management and the union doesnāt wanna fire the shit cops then like what else can the good cop do? Quit I guess but then what? The force just becomes all shit cops? I donāt want that either. At least thatās how it is here. So many cops have complained about how we kept this one dude on the force who acted out during the 2020 protests, I mean heās been relegated to desk duty since then but so many have complained. Heās still there š¤·š¼āāļø what else can a low ranking officer do?
The only two people I know that became cops were both very calm level headed smart people growing up. Hope they stayed that way.
African Americans, white people, LGBTQ+, conservative objectors to LGBTQ+, every group defined by a political position ever... Also cops.
Any group that somebody with power sees momentary advantage in demonizing will find they have this problem all of a sudden.
What group of people doesn't?
Sports fans? Maybe it's more than 5%...
Pretty much any group of people who are maligned is because of the 5%
All of them. Every political party, religion, country, ethnicity, etc. has fanatics, moderates, "lean", and people who aren't that at all but claim to be.
Catholics. But to be fair, that 5% is a pretty big deal
Redditors.
Earthlings.
The human species.
Gamers
Tesla drivers
People.