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My last post illustrated that in fact, being poor makes you sick because you are constantly reminded you don’t have a dvd player, iPhone, or “me time.” It turns out that living in a wealthy neighborhood exacerbates these problems. Well first off, if you are poor and live in a rich neighborhood, you’re probably working for rich people, some who treat you like an indentured servant, moron or both- that’s enough to drive me to over the edge. It also probably means you pay a lot for rent/mortgage because of property taxes so you can finance the brick wall encasing the neighborhood or new computers at the magnet school or whatever. It also means you probably don’t have a free clinic in your neighborhood, payphones, a shelter if you find yourself homeless or public transportation. Aside from those things, rich people like to enact ordinances to keep poor people out (if you don’t believe me, read “City of Quartz”.) So, you’re constantly bombarded with feeling unwelcome. Then there is the stress of kids growing up poor in a nice neighborhood. That has to create tension. The parents constantly feel bad for not being able to provide the $70 Abercrombie shirt, Tom’s shoes and shiny brand new Macbooks. It also probably means there are not a lot of other poor people around because of the fascistic zoning laws that prohibit apartment buildings and god forbid, low-income housing. So there you are, alone with a bunch of rich people who don’t want you there in the first place and you can’t afford anything except the ridiculously high rent. Yeah, I can see how that could make you sick.
Via: Scientific American
