The Effects Of Poverty In The Media

What is poverty? The word poverty produces many different ideas and images in people’s minds depending on their past socializations. Words can create images in people’s minds out of preconceived ideas they have developed through their life experience. In her article titled “Changing the Face of Poverty; Nonprofits and the Problem of Representation” Diana George examines the semantics and the imagery of the word poverty. While also addressing the issue of how people perceive poverty and what people living in poverty truly look like (676). Prof. George is arguing that organizations like Habitat for Humanity, which were created to help people in poverty actually perpetuate the wrong image of what someone in poverty looks like (678). Most organizations created to help those in need, especially those in the

In professor and editor Diana George’s article, “Changing the Face of Poverty: Nonprofits and the Problem of Representation,” published in the printed book Popular Literacy: Studies in Cultural Practices and Poetics, in 2001, she insists that representations of poverty in the media, only reveal of a small percentile of everyone impoverished, which makes them counterproductive. Opening with a brief anecdote about donation appeals made by nonprofit organizations, George directs her article towards the organizations themselves offering a suggestion to maximize the impact of their work. That suggestion is that representing poverty in a wider light, helping to display the more complex ways individuals are considered to be in poverty. The examples that George provides, become a pillar for her thesis that these current representations of poverty, while emotionally capturing, work against themselves.

As a matter of fact,“[m]ost people are not aware of other realities different [from] their own and think it is a ‘social norm’ to have [basic necessities] and a ‘social abnormality’ to live in the streets” (Source A). These people fail to realize there could be a situation in which the homeless could not avoid the cause. For example, some homeless people are born to a family in poverty. According to research, poverty is the largest contributor to homelessness, and “the World Bank, as of August 2008, [estimates] 1.4 billion people live on $1.25 per day or less, and 2.7 billion people live on less than $2 per day” (Source B). Although poverty is the largest cause of homelessness and is often called ‘the silent killer’, natural disasters, in extreme measures, could cause a person to lose their life along with their home. Homelessness can become a reality also when people become evicted when their bills become high and are not paid on time. The government lacks public assistance for people who are homeless because “[e]ven though the government has provided some shelters for homeless people, overcrowding forces many [people] to live in the streets” (Source

Homelessness is a serious societal problem affecting our communities. Katel of Housing the Homeless says “about 1.5 million Americans use a shelter in a given year- and advocates for the homeless say that figure badly understates the problem.” Yet, society looks down at these people, not doing anything to help them. They are judged, criticized, and bombarded by false assumptions everywhere they go. I have heard people say “they are like that because they chose to” or “they are lazy and don't want to work.” This is not true in most cases. The reality is life can go wrong at any moment for anyone. For some people there is no one there to help them and their only option is living on the streets or a shelter.

Words provoke preconceived ideas and images in the mind, when it comes to a situation like poverty these preconceived notions can have undesirable and unintended consequences. Diana George examines the semantics and the imagery of the word poverty in her article titled “Changing the Face of Poverty; Nonprofits and the Problem of Representation. While also addressing the issue of the perception poverty and what someone in poverty truly looks like (676). Prof. George is arguing that organizations like Habitat for Humanity, which are created to help people in poverty actually perpetuate the wrong image of what someone in poverty looks like (678). Most organizations created to help those in need, especially those in the US tend to portray poverty as what is seen and thought of as living conditions in Third World countries (683). In reality, poverty is all around each and every one of us in this country on a daily basis, and people might not always recognize it for what it is (681,682). Furthermore, the majority of people living in poverty in the United States do not live like or look like someone living in a Third World country. But in reality they are still living in poverty nonetheless (682,683). Organizations that portray people living in poverty here in the US as totally devastated and completely impoverished are doing a disservice to the people they are attempting to help. Consequently, by doing this they are giving a limiting idea of what someone living in poverty

A homeless person is an individual without a permanent, stable housing situation who either spends his or her nights on the streets or in temporary facilities, such as shelters and abandoned buildings. Throughout history, society has been “holding the poor, rape or incest victims, minorities, or the handicapped responsible for their misfortunes” (Zur). Society has been blaming the homeless for being in the position they are in. However, upon closer inspection, it must be noted that “children under the age of 18 accounts for 39% of the homeless population…battered women who live in poverty are often forced to choose between abusive relationships and homelessness…[and] 40% of homeless men have served in the armed forces” (Who Is Homeless?). It is clear that those who are homeless are not

Peter Edelman provides stark numbers in regard to poverty in his article “Poverty in America: Why Can’t We End It?” Low paying jobs, single parent households, lower occurrences of welfare, and race and gender issues all contribute to poverty in America (Edelman). He is sure to point out that this is not a new problem, but something that America has been having trouble dealing with for many years. One of the shocking numbers he provides is “104 million people - a third of the population - have annual incomes below twice the poverty line” (Edelman). A negative attitude toward those in poverty may prevent people from having empathy for and being charitable toward those less fortunate. However, whether or not the attitude is positive or negative,

Though I personally have never experience homelessness, I know a few who have had to endure a life on the streets. Also as a Altanta citizen, the homeless population greatly effects me for Altanta houses approxemently 3,572 homeless citizens whom tend to loiter on just about every street corner. Some of the homeless population receive the shelter and resources they need to survive through shelters and tvolunteer workshops. Yet a majority of the population receive little to no real benefits that could assist them in getting off of the streets and into a stable home and job. What the homesless population needs are jobs, health care, and mental health care. Yet the average person and the average shelter assumes that, “if they are feed and they have some clothes on their back they’re fine. Anything else that thy need they will have to get on their own.”

omelessness does not discriminate; it can affect people from all walks of life no matter sex, race, or religion. Last year alone, more than 3.5 million people experienced homelessness. Thirty five % affecting families with children and mental illness contribute to the lowest at twenty% (Students against Hunger). There are many different homeless population in between, such as military veterans, children under the age of 18, and those that have experienced domestic violence just to name a few. Homelessness is a social problem because it depletes federal funding, increases taxes, and can lead to criminal activity. The reaction to homelessness regarding the homeless is a social problem in itself. It seems that Americans view homelessness as a threat to society, an embarrassment, and sometimes one may even try to act as though the problem does not even exist. They turn their heads in shame, disgust, pity, distaste and fear.

Many notable wars have begun and ended without people taking time to truly understand them. It is the case that it is harder to understand something one has not experienced yet, and the war on poverty is not exempt from this. However, poverty has existed all throughout the history of mankind’s most notable societies, from the French revolution in 1789 which bloodied the halls of the Palace of Versailles to the Occupy Wall Street Movement in 2011 which reminded Americans that economic inequality is still prevalent. The Invisible Poverty of Other America by Peter Dreier, 7 Lies About Welfare by Danica Johnson, and Where to Sleep When You’re Homeless by an anonymous ex-homeless person, all give insight to the problems we’ve learned to turn a

Based on the article “Changing the Face of Poverty” the issue that Diana George is responding to is poverty and its representation in the world. George first discusses how the nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity tries to eliminate poverty by constructing houses for Americans who are suffering because of poverty. However, she states that the images which the nonprofit organization uses are pictures that try to “evoke the desire to give or to act, so that the benefactors don’t turn away” (George 240). These pictures may not completely depict all people who are suffering from poverty.

The motion picture Taylor’s Campaign, demonstrated how the homeless were constantly moving from place to place because they are kicked out of their location. They end up getting tickets for invading side walks or possessing shopping carts. They are unable to afford to pay for those tickets that they end up going to jail. Some are fine with that because at least they are no longer sleeping on the streets. There are more homeless than homeless shelters can home. Those that have no home can be put on a wait list, but in the meanwhile they have to continue to live in the streets. They cannot get a job because they have no address to put on their job application. Since they have no job they have to have some sort of income to survive, but what they do is not enough to keep them off the streets. Since, they look like homeless, they are treated with disrespect. People do not pay attention to them because others do not benefit. They have to make some sort of income to survive, but what they do is not enough to keep them off the streets or to eat. They cannot receive food because the government no longer funds outdoor distributions of meals. They blame it on how it can spread diseases when it is not an extreme issue like starvation. The homeless are treated with disrespect because of what they represent. They are associated with crime, in which crime rate is low. They see themselves as a family and feel they can only rely on each other because they only understand what is going. They seem to have no one else because their marriages have failed, mental health problems, or have abused alcohol or drugs. It makes it difficult to reintegrate society when their personal issues make it an obstacle every time. They are a community that sticks together because of the support they provide for one

Everyday poverty goes on around us and all over the world but thankfully there are organizations that work to help relieve poverty. People or families with low income or no income are affected by poverty. Poverty is the condition of having insufficient funds, goods, or support. While people are sound asleep at night without a care in the world, homeless and poor people are out searching for food or a place to sleep on the streets. Poverty is nothing new and it has always existed, “state poor laws, generally inherited from English tradition, required towns to take care of their poor” (Poverty). In present time when driving around Houston it is common to see homeless people and where they reside, “high poverty areas in Houston have quadrupled

Remember the struggle and pain of waiting for that lunch bell to ring so that you can satisfy the stomach that has been tormenting you throughout the class period? And remember the times you were dying in the blazing hot heat or shivering in the piercing ice cold while waiting for a ride home? Now imagine going through the pain of hunger and the repeated torment by the elements all because you do not have a home. Unfortunately that has been the reality of homeless people throughout America. Homelessness has been a struggling issue for many nations of the world and there have been very little offered to solve this growing economic and social problem. In America, many consider themselves blessed and wish to help out those in need while there are others that choose to view see such people as worthless or just hopeless people who can not make something out of themselves. Consequently people are less likely to help out because they view homeless people as those who do not deserve help keeping many homeless Americans on the streets. In the article, Homeless Demands Local Solutions states that in the United States, “The number of homeless people across the country is as high as 3.5 million in any given year” (Lee and Finley). Rising population in homelessness calls for action from the government and the people because only then, will America be able to curb the rise in homelessness. Many misguided Americans see homelessness as a state of choices and not circumstance.

According to suitcaseclinic.org, homelessness is a temporary condition that people fall into when they cannot afford to pay for a place to live, or when their current home has been declared unsafe or even unstable. According to Habitat.org, this issue affects between 1.6 million to close to 3 million people within the United States ("World Habitat”). The issue is growing throughout the world, yet what is the root cause? Numerous people wonder how they can help. Most tend to believe that the solution is as simple as just giving them money to use for daily living. Even though their root cause for their issue isn’t money. It is the fact that they don’t grasp how to use their money properly/ responsibly. The homeless can’t be helped with just cash, they need the proper support systems along with education to become successful.