That Viral "Poverty Thoughts" Essay Is "Tragically Fictional"
The woman who wrote it has merely imagined what it's like to be in poverty and is using her imaginings to wring tears and cash from the gullible on the Internet, writes Angelica Leicht in the Houston Press:
There are times when the good deeds that happen by the magic of the Internet make us quite giddy. This time? Well, this time they make us cringe, to the tune of $100,000.If you haven't read the "insightful" personal narrative that recently went viral, "Why I Make Terrible Decisions, or poverty thoughts," there's a good chance it's somewhere on your Facebook news feed. This thing is everywhere.
The essay, which is being touted as a poignant look at the "terrible" decision-making processes of the poor, is the product of writer Linda Walther Tirado's personal experience with poverty. Linda, a married mother of two, speaks of having to live in seedy motels, where there are roaches that she stabs with toothpicks. She can't cook for her family because she lacks a kitchen, and she's afraid of attracting more roaches, so they survive on junk food in said seedy motel.
Oh, and not only does Linda say she's living in seedy motels and stabbing roaches, but she's also working two jobs, taking a full load of college courses, and is banished to a life as a cook in the "back of the house" at a restaurant, as she is deemed too unsightly as a waitress -- or apparently a legal secretary -- due to an unfortunate set of teeth. She's in desperate need of dental work, and her body is full of infection, but she can't afford to spend the money on medical or dental care. It's a tragic, tragic story.
It's also tragically fictional.
You see, Linda Walther Tirado, or "KillerMartinis," as she's known on her Kinja screen name, wrote this brain-grating essay, and it's all about being subjected to the pitfalls of poverty. Linda's not actually poor, though, nor was she raised in what most would describe as poverty. Unless you consider a boarding school education as a marker for poverty, anyway.
The inferences on what it's like to be poor -- from the roach-infested living quarters to the lack of wholesome food -- would almost be laughable, if they weren't such freakin' gross stereotypes written by a person who has never experienced true poverty. That little fact takes it from laughable to infuriating.
What's also infuriating is that Linda -- who is panhandling for $100,000 worth of donations on GoFundMe -- wrote this piece, and the comments and rebuttals to it, while masquerading as a "poor person," but has now decided to clean up the mess by copping to her past as a person from a much different background.
One who went to private schools, owns a home, works as a freelance political consulted, is married to a Marine, has met President Obama, and taken some lovely vacations.
Here, from her blog:
I started kindergarten a year early. I went to an exclusive private school where we didn't have grade levels. They grouped us by age and we had workbooks in different subjects depending on our ability level. When my parents transferred me to a closer school with normal grades, they put me in fourth grade. I was seven. They wanted to put me into fifth grade, but my parents thought it would be too difficult for me socially....I had private music lessons from the age of four. I was an award-winning singer, piano, and flute player by seven. I owned twenty-three instruments when I was twelve. I toured Europe as a featured soprano the summer after I graduated high school.
Boohoo, huh? Send wet Kleenex and money.
I grew up very poor up until I was in middle school.
I lived in the ghetto, and even experienced two shootings first hand.
I used to play at the home of two heroin addicts.
We used to shop at Goodwill.
I don't even think about it now, honestly. But what she wrote I find very irritating.
Ppen at December 1, 2013 9:35 AM
As a sufferer of the rare malady Elbow Macaroninitus, I can barely type this sentence.
Won't you please help?
Cash, PayPal, and exotic cars are all acceptable donations.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at December 1, 2013 9:35 AM
I read that article, and all I could think was it was a huge list of excuses not to make any effort to better oneself.
I have lived in a motel, and only had a microwave to cook in. I got off my ass and made something of myself.
Daghain at December 1, 2013 9:44 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/12/01/that_viral_pove.html#comment-4088067">comment from DaghainI cook almost everything in a microwave. I get generic-brand precooked sausages (cheap) at the grocery store and cook them in wet paper towel, make bacon in a covered Pyrex dish, make green beans in butter. I do make meat and eggs on the stove but it's also possible to make them in the microwave. Those sausages or even hot dogs, which I also like, are filled with fat and can satiate you for hours.
Amy Alkon at December 1, 2013 9:48 AM
We really need to start teaching critical thinking skills. And some people need to get out more, as well.
Just from the excerpt, I can spot some holes one may drive a Mack truck thru.
After seeing that, I'm very tempted to go to one of the microfunding sites and bleg for money so I can pay off my mortgage faster.
I R A Darth Aggie at December 1, 2013 10:06 AM
She's now trying to backpedal, claiming that it was always presented as a work of fiction, but there are dozens of comments by her across multiple sites in which she's affirming the reality of her account. Basically she's scammed a lot of people out of a lot of money and there's probably not much they can do about it.
pikachu at December 1, 2013 10:46 AM
I am betting that both life stories are essentially made up, and that this woman is some lower middle class spoiled grifter.
As far as what to do about her, I think that criminal fraud charges might stick.
Isab at December 1, 2013 11:25 AM
Ah, this essay! There was also a bit in there where she spoke of not being able to get a bank account because of ---I'm not kidding---the Patriot Act. She did worm out of that when dozens of Gawker comments called that out for the bullshit that it is, saying that well, SHE was never denied a bank account for national security reasons, but certainly someone must have been. Then, if someone, anyone, was denied a bank account, then poor people heard about that denial, and were thus terrified of banks and sent scurrying back to check-cashing places. Dumb.
To be fair, it's possible that she grew up rich but still lives poorly as an adult because her parents went broke/died and left her nothing/refuse to support her at all or attach strings to help that she finds intolerable (not that there's anything at all wrong with either of those scenarios; it sounds like her parents more than fulfilled their obligation to give her a decent childhood and education).
And honestly, there's a kernel of truth in the idea behind her wretched essay. Of course poverty is stressful, and people under stress make poor decisions, which leads to more poverty, rinse and repeat. Poverty is a pit, and people who are born into that pit or fall into it (or jump into it, as Ms. Walthers Tirado may have) are going to face challenges that people who have never been in it won't. That's just an unfortunate fact of life that no government program could ever hope to fix.
Jenny Had A Chance at December 1, 2013 11:28 AM
Oops. When I posted the above comment, I'd only read the gawker/groupthink essay and didn't realize she'd made up a poor-white-trash childhood narrative to go with her self-defeating-poor adult story. Or that her teeth look just fine and her generous family is currently supportive of her and her job is not the line-cook hell she described. It's possible for *someone* to grow up rich and fall into poverty as an adult, but not her.
What a disgusting con artist.
Jenny Had A Chance at December 1, 2013 11:52 AM
After reading her essay, it is very obvious to me that it is a load of bull crap. The only thing that keeps the poor going is hope. Hope that they will find a better job; hope for a break. Hope is what will make a poor person spend their last ten dollars on lottery tickets. They can't get bank accounts, long before the Patriot Act, they overdrew their accounts for too much and too long. This woman has no idea what it is like to struggle to read, struggle to solve basic math equations, problems that run rampant among our truly poor.
One of the smartest people I know lives on the edge of poverty. His problem? One stupid drug possession charge makes him unsuitable for employment by many corporate employers.
Cat at December 1, 2013 4:24 PM
Cat you nailed it. I've known truly poor people that don't understand the concept of multiplication or division. They count things one by one....
I'm always astonished at the lack of education in the poor.
Ppen at December 1, 2013 5:19 PM
A cousin of mine shared that fraudulent essay on Facebook a couple of weeks ago and I called bullshit on it. I can't say I was surprised by all the flak I got from all my progressively compassionate Facebook pals whose experience with poverty is similar to the actual experience of the fraudulent writer. They love stuff like that.
Ken R at December 1, 2013 6:17 PM
Maybe she can pretend to donate the money to the Wounded Warrior Project, just like I suspect the waitress in New Jersey probably pretended to do.
Jonathan Foreman at December 1, 2013 6:30 PM
First, this has happened before.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 1, 2013 6:58 PM
Also, see here, at January 26, 2006 10:22 PM. (Attn: Ass pix!)
And see here at September 19, 2008 12:08 PM.
Big point: The successful con artist knows that his mark has to want to be taken... Has to want to believe sappy and simplistic things.
And…
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 1, 2013 7:03 PM
…And if you wanna read a haunting narrative about an articulate young woman in the cycle of poverty, have at it.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 1, 2013 7:12 PM
Glad you're back Crid!
Ppen at December 1, 2013 7:32 PM
"One who went to private schools, owns a home, works as a freelance political consulted, is married to a Marine, has met President Obama, and taken some lovely vacations."
In other words, she's a well-connected leftist. Why does that not surprise me. And I'm with Isab; the new story doesn't sound much more plausible than the old one.
Cousin Dave at December 2, 2013 7:12 AM
"In other words, she's a well-connected leftist."
So true. Conservatives simply don't go to good schools, own homes, work as political consultants, marry Marines, meet the President, or go on vacation.
They just don't.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at December 2, 2013 11:19 AM
Whoa, Gog. First of all, I guess it's time for me to repeat my spiel about the difference between a liberal and a leftist. If I compare notes with a liberal, we will probably find that the outcomes we want for our country are pretty much the same: we want people to be free, healthy, and prosperous. We may disagree on how to get there, but that's negotiable. On the other hand, these are not things that leftists want for most people. Leftists see the masses as either dumb sheep to be exploited, or dangerous wolves to be kept on a tight leash. Only the ruling elites should have any freedom or prosperity. We've seen this outcome in nearly every place where socialism has been seriously pursued.
And if you re-read that paragraph again, I think you'll see that nearly everything in there (except for the bit about marrying a Marine, but I can't help but wonder about the specific Marine she married -- there are leftists in the military too), nearly everything adds up to "self-appointed ruling elite". After all, who the hell, outside of K Street, makes a good living as a "freelance political consultant"?
Cousin Dave at December 2, 2013 11:33 AM
Thanks for the clarification, Cousin Dave.
Wait - that wasn't clarification.
That was re-stating your previous statements.
I did wonder what you meant by
" outside of K Street, makes a good living as a "freelance political consultant"? "
Does K Street shut down when the Tea Party takes over?
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at December 2, 2013 12:07 PM
"Does K Street shut down when the Tea Party takes over?"
You can't shut down K Street. The best you can do is limit its influence.
Cousin Dave at December 3, 2013 7:10 AM
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