this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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So you want to preserve an injust system because that selfsame system is holding you down?
It's not the worst argument I've heard for maintaining the status quo, but it sure as hell isn't a good one..
That's a really weird take on what I said.
The social workers aren't directly addressing the problem. The social workers ensure that you don't have to work 14 hour days just to get by at a barely-outside-of-poverty level. Feeling better about yourself isn't going to mean that you don't have to work yourself to utter exhaustion just to get by.
The problem is the system we live in, the system that allows vast inequities in wealth, the system that requires poor and unemployed people in order to keep profitability high for owners. Reducing cops and adding social workers doesn't directly address that, and it's unlikely that it would indirectly address that either. Yes, we should fix our criminal justice system. Yes, people living in poverty should have realistic access to mental health. But that should be because it's the right thing to do, not because that's going to fix the underlying inequities that cause the problems.