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I was in a conversation last night which included a friend who is one of the excellent people who work for WINZ and several friends who have to deal with the system as "clients". One comment in particular, about the public perception of beneficiaries and "a few bad apples making it hard for everyone else on a benefit" triggered one of my hot-buttons.
It is emphatically not beneficiaries* themselves who are responsible for the public perception. it is the politicians who have invented the myth of the "dole bludger" and "DPB breeder" to make beneficiaries a whipping boy and scapegoat in order to polarise and arouse their (non-beneficiary) support base; and it is the the media who have either swallowed the hook or considered it better business to run with it or even fan the flames.
"Everyone loves a good hanging" as I'm told they used to say. And you can hang a well crafted straw man over and over and over again.
I'm going to link again to Werewolfs excellent "Ten myths about welfare' which comprehensively lays to rest these imaginary monsters which we seem so keen to let ourselves be stirred up against. There are plenty of genuine monsters out there which we would be better using that energy to fight, ironically many of which find fertile ground / easy prey in those very same (vulnerable) people at the bottom of the heap.
* I'm going to repeat here something I said in my earlier post. I consider the terms "benefit" or "beneficiary" to be critical misnomers. There may certainly be other benefits of unemployment for some but I fail to see how receiving a paltry sum for the government in exchange for repeated jumping-though-of hoops can be considered one of them.
So there is another harm caused by this stigmatisation of those receiving government assistance, and that is that those genuinely in need and fully entitled to this assistance that society provides through the mechanism of government are dissuaded from asking /receiving it for fear of being tarred with this brush, subject to this witchhunt. Dealing with WINZ is well known as a far more stressful experience than it ought to be for an organisation tasked with delivering well-fare and especially so for those who are already in highly stressful and desperate circumstances. We - our representatives - should not be raising this additional social hurdle in front of them! We as caring members of society (I hope) must not propagate the meme through careless word, deed or buying into false stereotypes.
- I admit to my own fallibility here; I am regularly challenged to examine assumptions I didn't even realise I was holding about this or that segment of society. Really, that's all I asking others to do here.
Yes there are a few "bad apples" and likely always will be; but surely for those people being on a benefit as such is merely a symptom of larger underlying issues. I consider the relatively insignificant portion of resources they consume an acceptable cost of the far greater benefits of having a decent, functioning social welfare system.
~~~
[And just to head off any beneficiary bashing OR bitching about WINZ in the comments; a) you obviously missed the point and b) the frontline staff know how bad the system is, OK? This post is not about the flaws of either of those groups, it's about government and politicians and the media and NZ society and "culture".]
It is emphatically not beneficiaries* themselves who are responsible for the public perception. it is the politicians who have invented the myth of the "dole bludger" and "DPB breeder" to make beneficiaries a whipping boy and scapegoat in order to polarise and arouse their (non-beneficiary) support base; and it is the the media who have either swallowed the hook or considered it better business to run with it or even fan the flames.
"Everyone loves a good hanging" as I'm told they used to say. And you can hang a well crafted straw man over and over and over again.
I'm going to link again to Werewolfs excellent "Ten myths about welfare' which comprehensively lays to rest these imaginary monsters which we seem so keen to let ourselves be stirred up against. There are plenty of genuine monsters out there which we would be better using that energy to fight, ironically many of which find fertile ground / easy prey in those very same (vulnerable) people at the bottom of the heap.
* I'm going to repeat here something I said in my earlier post. I consider the terms "benefit" or "beneficiary" to be critical misnomers. There may certainly be other benefits of unemployment for some but I fail to see how receiving a paltry sum for the government in exchange for repeated jumping-though-of hoops can be considered one of them.
So there is another harm caused by this stigmatisation of those receiving government assistance, and that is that those genuinely in need and fully entitled to this assistance that society provides through the mechanism of government are dissuaded from asking /receiving it for fear of being tarred with this brush, subject to this witchhunt. Dealing with WINZ is well known as a far more stressful experience than it ought to be for an organisation tasked with delivering well-fare and especially so for those who are already in highly stressful and desperate circumstances. We - our representatives - should not be raising this additional social hurdle in front of them! We as caring members of society (I hope) must not propagate the meme through careless word, deed or buying into false stereotypes.
- I admit to my own fallibility here; I am regularly challenged to examine assumptions I didn't even realise I was holding about this or that segment of society. Really, that's all I asking others to do here.
Yes there are a few "bad apples" and likely always will be; but surely for those people being on a benefit as such is merely a symptom of larger underlying issues. I consider the relatively insignificant portion of resources they consume an acceptable cost of the far greater benefits of having a decent, functioning social welfare system.
~~~
[And just to head off any beneficiary bashing OR bitching about WINZ in the comments; a) you obviously missed the point and b) the frontline staff know how bad the system is, OK? This post is not about the flaws of either of those groups, it's about government and politicians and the media and NZ society and "culture".]
