Diane Sawyer - Appalachian Special

[joycenalex]

this is my 3rd attempt at responding to this thread....it's a very complex and complicated issue that makes an easy response so hard to articulate.....
in the united states, except for those brought here by force into slavery, we, as a people are the descendants of immigrants. for many many reasons, our ancestors left their homelands in search of better...better education, better land, bettering for themselves, better for their mother and kids. i cannot totally disagree with marigold here. i know and understand leaving your home and kin is very hard, but the choice being made, generation after generation to remain in a situation that cannot support your family, in that specific geographic location is not good for that specific family nor society as a whole.
(QUOTE)....There is help out there. But they have to want it, they have to ask if not for themselves but for their children so their lives can be better. No one should live in poverty. I can see one generation being poor, but not the second or the third. Grandchildren should not be as uneducated as the grandparents. Each and every generation should improve on the last. (END QUOTE). there is help, it might not be easy to get to, it might not to be abundant help, but there are social services and ways to break the poverty cycle. education and birth control are first steps in ending the cycle of multi generational poverty both in appalachia and the inner cities.
i am not in any way or form discounting family ties, but some of those ties are nooses on the neck of the future generations. i know i'll be flamed for this, but i will be thinking on this topic and how to change the awfulness of it for my sisters and brothers locked into this hopelessness for a long time. kindly and thoughtfully joyce

[kokopup]

Quote:
Originally Posted by kokopup View Post

I really understand why your kids would be on antidepressants. You are in a world of your own.

I apologize for this insensitive statement. It was not called for.

[caseysmom]

kokopup, I have never found any of your posts offensive at all. I think like me her post angered you and you said it how you saw it. I have seen her blast whole ethnic groups with a wide sweep of her judgemental nonsense.

[Edwina's Secretary]

Devil's advocate for a moment....

I have not posted any opinion in this thread because I cannot sort out my thoughts (and I did watch the program...)

But reading it I am left to wonder...I see LOTS of judging going on in the thread about the Octomom. (I have been one judging...truth in advertising)

Is it okay to judge her and not the people in this program? What makes the difference?

[Daisy and Delilah]

Marigold, I honestly get where you're coming from too. I know what you're saying. I also have strong beliefs that govern how people need to take charge of their lives. I hope that the majority of the people of Appalachia have come out of the mountains and tried to get help for a better life for their families. I would love to see nothing more than those people doing just that. In this day and age, perhaps enough of them have been curious to the ways of modern technology.
However, I'm afraid there is still a large majority that hasn't done this. Why? The grandparents taught one way and the next generation followed, so on and so on. We can't force these people to live differently. It has to be their choice.

When I lived there, there was no tv cable available in the remote mountain areas. I can't even imagine what it would be like to run cable all the way up one of those mountains. It's practically impossible so no one does it. We got three major channels on the tv and that was it. The picture was almost unrecognizable. There might be other alternatives available today.

As I said before, my former FIL worked in the coal mines to support his family. He owed his soul to the company store when he died. He got a black lung settlement that helped pay bills to an extent. Black lung killed him. Those people got nothing free. The only government assistance they got was for their handicapped son that eventually died while I was there.
You're saying that everyone gets everything free and they don't. You can't group these people all together like you're doing.

I know I've said enough already but I feel the need to defend these fine people. This is just one family. All of the Appalachians are not like this but many of them that I know there now, are exactly like this.

Lastly, I just think we should have compassion for everyone that needs it. I've never said I agree with what goes on there. I would love to see change come about. It's going to take alot to achieve this but maybe more fortunate people can get the ball rolling. Maybe we can awaken some of the people and make them aware of what is available to them. I'll hope and pray that we see that in my lifetime.

[Daisy and Delilah]

Joyce: It is very hard to articulate feelings on this issue. That's exactly what I was trying to say. There's no reason to flame you for what you said.

The family ties are nooses around the necks of future generations. Sad but true. I wish there was an easy way to get them to change but I don't see it in some cases.

[Daisy and Delilah]

Devil's advocate for a moment....

I have not posted any opinion in this thread because I cannot sort out my thoughts (and I did watch the program...)

But reading it I am left to wonder...I see LOTS of judging going on in the thread about the Octomom. (I have been one judging...truth in advertising)

Is it okay to judge her and not the people in this program? What makes the difference?

I am definitely guilty for judging Octomom. Personally, I think I am angered at the fact that she seems to have an ulterior motive in what she's done. Of course, this doesn't make it okay for me to judge her at all.

I can't compare the two situations either. Octomom and Appalachia are apples and oranges.

[pomtzu]

I am definitely guilty for judging Octomom. Personally, I think I am angered at the fact that she seems to have an ulterior motive in what she's done. Of course, this doesn't make it okay for me to judge her at all.

I can't compare the two situations either. Octomom and Appalachia are apples and oranges.

Agreed. But that doesn't mean I am disagreeing with anyone else here. Everyone has a right to an opinion - a right to their own beliefs in each matter - and it doesn't necessarily make either one right or wrong. However, Octomom has single-handedly brought despair to herself and all of her children, whereas the people of Appalachia have had it handed down to them from previous generations, and not by their own personal recklessness.