How Poverty Changes the Brain

[SemiEnlightenedBum]

i learned this in psych classes in college,this theory has been circulating for a minute,of course they won't make this a more official train of thought because it would expose centuries of eugenics,Darwinism,colonialism,war crimes,basic empire bullshyt devil-ry revelry..etc ad nauseam

it took so many years of meditation,entheogens,researching,mulling,praying,and just 'embracing' the hard earned gifts poverty teaches you to just come into an 'acceptance' if you can just hang on through the violence,abuse,abandonment,patronization,laughs,the scoffing,etc ad nauseam..shyt hurts but it teaches you self survival,a reliance on self,and if you can take it to that level 'SaviorSelf'

however,growing up a poor cac in the jects taught me MANY,MANY,MANY moons ago that this isn't the case always,even in worse conditions then mine,i got so many OG's of all races that barely graduated middle school who can think,talk,and basically sprint laps around fukkin MA's&doctorate level graduates,school can be a grand gift,but lets be real here,most of it is just indoctrination bullshyt,they train you to be docile and just accepting of any level of authority,and that isn't intelligence on any level,you just accepting a vulture's regurgitated GMO throw up you lil tape recording bytch..

 

[SemiEnlightenedBum]

the thing that bothers me with this level of thinking is how it has crushed any sort of liberation theology/planning,they have crushed the poor's resolve to fight for anything more,you either just accept your place and let the devil shyt on you&all you do is scam&slither around your fellow poor denizens and try to rob them blind,but you'll take Sam's handouts,abuse,and crumbs with a wide eyed smile,then try to emulate and soak their blood dry..

why i never really sold drugs like that,i couldn't in good conscience take the poor's money like that,victimizing products of their environment and not doing anything to better it is no better then them,and if there's one thing i'll do or die trying is to ALWAYS be better then them..if i'm hated for it all the better

 

[getmoney310cpt]

"Poverty creates barriers to developing the sense of control over one’s own life"

TOO REAL....

 

[agpxknt]

Depressing. Livin in the hood seeing this everyday
And to think about 100 years ago this was Black Wall Street

 

[Barnett114]

Trolls like PhonZhi ain't going to be in threads like this, it doesn't fit their narratives

 

[silk scarfs]

i didnt really read the article but would this relate to a kid who grew up on a farm who technically didnt have any money but had enough resources to survive?

my dad grew up on a farm and was literally almost dirt poor but he always said since they lived off the land they didnt really notice they were poor until they came to america

 

[Elle Seven]

I know this is a sensitive topic but hopefully people will read my comment in it's entirety as I know reading comprehension can be a struggle for some members here.

I wonder if this same constant fight or flight state is what causes people in poverty to continue to reproduce more on average than people with wealth.

It would make sense that the primitive brain is telling you that resources are scarce and you may not be around much longer so to preserve the gene pool you need to reproduce NOW. However, counter to that the pre-frontal cortex should also deduce even at the primitive level that BECAUSE there are no resources progeny will die (or in the case of ancient times be vulnerable to predators or competitors when you are dead). So maybe this research doesn't fully answer my question.

I am trying to figure out what exactly aside from government benefits motivates poor people to have 4 kids and you look at suburban families (regardless of race) having 2 kids. Everyone has various excuses but the statistics show that this is a human habit that transcends race, religion or any other fixed markers. It is exclusive to the variables of education and economic wealth. But the ability to achieve higher education these days means to a certain degree you come from economic wealth. It is a catch-22 cycle because less children is often associated with more income - Which is why I tend to believe that we need to err on the side of having 1 or 2 kids maximum instead of 3 or 4. With every additional child the quality of attention and resources each child receives drops exponentially. And you get kids that turn out with ADHD etc in part because of this.

You make an interesting point. I'd never considered if there was a biological component to this. My own experience with some family and friends led me to think the tendency was strictly due to a lack of critical thinking, but perhaps that isn't it.

For example, for a year, my spouse and I had to get back on our feet and had to live with his family. We did not have any children. At that time, my own mother kept stressing the need for us to start a family, even though my spouse and I were both unemployed and had no place of our own to stay. In her mind, there was nothing wrong with this and it shouldn't have been an impediment to having children.

After we finally did get straight, we had two children, both of the same sex. My mother then asked if we were going to try for a third, just so we could have a child of the other sex. I asked her if she had considered our financial situation, our mental states as the parents of two small children and even the states of the kids who would, in turn, have to have their time with us cut up again by the presence of another child. She also tries to persuade my brother to have children, even though he is unmarried and still lives with her. I'm not sure what logic she is using. Her comment just suggested to me that perhaps folks (like her or maybe not) may just opt to figure it out as they go along but don't consider the bigger picture. In all of this, I can't see any benefits of having more children - the drive to reproduce anymore would definitely be rooted in my own personal fears I'd be projecting on to my children. Maybe others are doing the same.

 

[Elle Seven]

Now imagine the feeling a parent feels when their kids becomes a victim to the world. It eats you up inside because you literally sacrifice your body to "pay the bills" doing what you feel will give your kids a opportunity to make it out, but in reality you are also leaving your kid out in the open for the beast known as the world to swallow them whole. This is why FAMILY is important. When parents go ghost to grind for the family its critical that you have cousins/aunts/uncles/ etc who can help out (assuming they arent crazy themselves).

The thing is in America the individualism narrative is pushed so hard where families dont even rock with each other like that unless its a funeral or something.

So much truth in this post!!! This is one of my biggest fears as a parent as well.

 

[Hard Times Nakamura]

You make an interesting point. I'd never considered if there was a biological component to this. My own experience with some family and friends led me to think the tendency was strictly due to a lack of critical thinking, but perhaps that isn't it.

For example, for a year, my spouse and I had to get back on our feet and had to live with his family. We did not have any children. At that time, my own mother kept stressing the need for us to start a family, even though my spouse and I were both unemployed and had no place of our own to stay. In her mind, there was nothing wrong with this and it shouldn't have been an impediment to having children.

After we finally did get straight, we had two children, both of the same sex. My mother then asked if we were going to try for a third, just so we could have a child of the other sex. I asked her if she had considered our financial situation, our mental states as the parents of two small children and even the states of the kids who would, in turn, have to have their time with us cut up again by the presence of another child. She also tries to persuade my brother to have children, even though he is unmarried and still lives with her. I'm not sure what logic she is using. Her comment just suggested to me that perhaps folks (like her or maybe not) may just opt to figure it out as they go along but don't consider the bigger picture. In all of this, I can't see any benefits of having more children - the drive to reproduce anymore would definitely be rooted in my own personal fears I'd be projecting on to my children. Maybe others are doing the same.

Your mother is the prototypical brainwashed non thinking Woman in the West. A Non-Westernized Woman would preface this entire argument with GET A DECENT TRADE/CAREER SO YOU CAN THEN SUPPORT SOME GRANDCHILDREN FOR ME.

No other non-American culture has this willy nilly half as perception on reproduction and finances. No offense intended but Yo Momma has her feet firmly rooted in the plantation. Back when more kids were better because then Massa could sell them for top dolla or put them to use in the field. Nowadays they just shoot them when they turn 16 for trespassing or send them to jail.

 

[Elle Seven]

Your mother is the prototypical brainwashed non thinking Woman in the West. A Non-Westernized Woman would preface this entire argument with GET A DECENT TRADE/CAREER SO YOU CAN THEN SUPPORT SOME GRANDCHILDREN FOR ME.

No other non-American culture has this willy nilly half as perception on reproduction and finances. No offense intended but Yo Momma has her feet firmly rooted in the plantation. Back when more kids were better because then Massa could sell them for top dolla or put them to use in the field. Nowadays they just shoot them when they turn 16 for trespassing or send them to jail.

I'd be lying if I said it doesn't make me feel a certain way to read what you said about my mother, but I can still recognize the truth in it. A big part of her desire to have grandchildren (versus wanting us to have children for our own reasons) is because of her own demons she won't face. We've all got something we need to exorcise, and, for her, grandchildren help to provide a great distraction and band-aid from and for that pain. That being said, though, I always tell her I am amazed at her attitude towards producing a life, but I know she is not the only one who thinks this way. People are having kids for all the wrong reasons everyday, seeing these offspring merely as extensions of themselves or something to help them out, not recognizing the truth the child is a person and is autonomous in his/her own right.

I digress, though. Even though she didn't preach that notion to me, it wasn't hard to understand there's no need to be bringing children into this world you can't take care of - not just financially, but mentally and emotionally. I honestly didn't want to have children for a long time, as to just not pass along the fukkery that is the experience of being Black in America. I just thank God my brother hasn't drunk the Kool-Aid