“They should all be put to the sword,” Joffrey declared suddenly. “The Mallisters and Blackwoods and Brackens... all of them. They’re traitors. I want them killed, Grandfather. I won’t have any generous terms.”

"Joffrey, when your enemies defy you, you must serve them steel and fire. When they go to their knees, however, you must help them back to their feet. Elsewise no man will ever bend the knee to you. And any man who must say ‘I am the king’ is no true king at all."

Or fuck kids in this case

That was an oddly specific description of a crime.

I read an article or paper or something years ago that asserted many European countries have a greater cultural acceptance of poverty. Being poor doesn't make you a bad person, you aren't assumed to be lazy and of low moral character, it isn't assumed that you are a drug user or criminal because you happen to live in poverty. That really struck me because I feel as if growing up in America I was conditioned to believe otherwise.

All places where poor people congregate/live are automatically assumed to be dangerous. All poor people are assumed to be thieves who either steal other people's stuff or tax dollars because they refuse to better themselves. We seem to have this false idea that it is possible for everyone to not be poor, that we could live in a society where no poverty exists if everyone just buckled down.

The older I get the more I become convinced that the world Americans seem to be working towards is impossible to achieve. We should be working harder to de-stigmatize poverty or the country will reach a plateau it can never improve beyond.

I think a lot of people want to blame crime on sociopaths by definition. We are way too quick to assume that just because someone did something that seems like it would only be possible if you can't empathize that the person must be a sociopath. That's barely better than blaming crime on "evil" or any other mystical force which could compel otherwise rational people to act irrationally. I find it far more likely that desperation, an all too common emotion, could drive someone to value their own needs, safety and freedom over another's so much that it allows them to rationalize theft, assault, or murder. If you're at the bottom then every other person has more than you and it becomes easier to blame them for your circumstances. Of you're at the top then the idea of having less than or none of what you have worked for would seem like an immense disaster.

Whoops. Incidental poetry is cool though.

r/firstworldproblems

Uh, this is an issue that is clearly your preference problem does not outweigh the abuse issues that may result of your want.