Yep, it's back to one of my Favorite Frustration Friday's (triple F) subjects – people who hate the unemployed. For those of you who haven't followed my previous rants, I'm very annoyed that some people are down on the unemployed. So now and then I take time to sound off on it for both personal reasons and to stimulate conversation.
It annoys me. It galls me. People need our help in these tough times, and yet many folks that are more mouth than brain seem to spend their time dissing them, not helping them. Having seen a lot of good people unemployed for bad reasons, this annoys me.
And this time I think I came up with another reason people seem to hate the unemployed – the unemployed are reminders that Things Are Not Well.
It's hard to say your country is great when a lot of people can't find work. It's hard to push the national pride button if you're a politician or pundit when so many people are miserable. So, they come down on the unemployed – because they remind them there are problems.
It's hard to talk about the free market, or how great your economy is, or how wonderful this business is, or whatever when people are unemployed. You can't tout your pet theories or brag about how your company is doing when it's clear folks are miserable.
If your political party is in power, then you look like a group of morons right off the bad when unemployment is high. It doesn't matter if you caused it, you just look bad. It's easy to be angry for making you look bad.
The unemployed are a reminder of past failures – failures your party made, failures that you didn't call out as an reporter, failures you misinterpreted in your economics book, or whatever. The unemployed are a reminder you were wrong, no matter who's getting blamed now.
The unemployed are a reminder to too many people that things aren't going so hot in their country (and this isn't just America). So instead of helping them, people come down on them, call them lazy, cut their benefits, etc.
It's easier than extending a helping hand, which may require swallowing your ego. For too many politicians, pundits, preachers, and academics, that's a very large horse pill to suck down.
Remember the people you know who are unemployed. Remember when it happened to you. It'll help keep you from falling into this trap.