Crossposted from https://scribe.disroot.org/post/4213592
Lol
FEMA now requires disaster victims to have an email address
https://grist.org/extreme-weather/fema-now-requires-disaster-victims-to-have-an-email-address/
https://grist.org/extreme-weather/fema-now-requires-disaster-victims-to-have-an-email-address/
Crossposted from https://scribe.disroot.org/post/4213592
Lol
28 Comments
Prove_your_argument@piefed.social · 62 pts · 350d
It's criminal to be poor, obviously.
Just like it's criminal to be brown or black.
Tedesche@lemmy.world · -12 pts · 349d
In America, even the poorest person can afford a device with cellular or WiFi access. I’m not contesting that society discriminates against the poor or non-Whites, but I don’t see the discrimination here. Anyone can have access to email.
BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 349d
Come down to Appalachia, where vast areas have no cellular signal at all nor ISP available.
Tedesche@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 347d
I can’t attest to that area’s WiFi access but if it’s as bead as you say, and what I’ve heard about people stubbornly continuing to live there is true too, then they have only themselves to blame. I’ve been poor and I know plenty of other people who’ve been broke at some point in their lives. There are always options in a nation as rich as America. They’re not always good ones, but you can chain them together into something better.
HumanoidTyphoon@quokk.au · 0 pts · 345d
Why should they have to? Because of your opinion?
Tedesche@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 345d
Why should they have to what? I don’t think anyone should have to do anything because of my opinion. Is that the best you’ve got when it comes to a counter argument? I don’t even know what you’re referring to. Come at me with better slop than this.
BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world · -3 pts · 347d
Not everyone needs internet in their life. Go touch grass.
Prove_your_argument@piefed.social · 8 pts · 349d
Tell that to my 90 year old grandfather.
titanicx@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 319d
There are plenty of 80 and 90 year old even 100-year-old people that have email addresses. Plenty of people that like to have that in their life. My mother is nearly 80 years old and she has an email address. What does h have anything to do with living in the modern world.
Tedesche@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 347d
Name a reason your grandfather can’t afford what I’m talking about. Housing subsidies exist. Disability exists. Social security exists. Free phones exist. Hell, you exist. I help hundreds of people a week get access to benefits that are free to them, which help them live. It’s not a luxurious life, to be sure. But it’s a lot better than most poor people from other countries. And we all pay for it with our taxes. The real crime is that it should be paid for many times over with corporate taxes, for which there are loopholes.
rustydomino@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 347d
Old people have lots of difficulty with technology. Not all of it is because they are luddites. They lose mental faculties as they get old and have trouble remembering how to do things. Their eyesight gets bad so they can’t read tiny screens. I’ve always felt that there is a market for bonded employees to provide tech concierge services for old folks that have difficulty navigating things in the modern world.
Tedesche@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 346d
I help elderly clients too and I’m aware of all those problems. We get them aides that can facilitate their shortcomings when it comes to technology. Solutions are available; all it takes is the will to enact them. People here are being very pessimistic about what’s possible.
rustydomino@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 345d
To an extent I agree that we should find ways to lower barriers to tech for elderly citizens. I think that in this country the sad reality is that limited finances will be directed to other priorities like food and shelter. When disaster strikes then these vulnerabilities become clearly exposed.
Tedesche@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 345d
And to an extent, I agree that adding barriers to disaster victims is entirely unnecessary and counterproductive; I simply meant to point out that it’s not discrimination to expect people of virtually all stripes to be able to handle email access, at least in America. I’ve worked with people who have all varieties of disabilities. Only in extreme cases is it reasonable to expect a person to not be able to handle basic instructions that can help them circumvent technological barriers. If the blind can do it, what are we really talking about here? In my experience, it’s 9/10 times the lack of will, and that is probably the toughest barrier of them all.
HumanoidTyphoon@quokk.au · 0 pts · 345d
Are you unaware that this administration is rapidly eliminating all those social safety nets you mentioned?
Tedesche@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 345d
No, I’m not, and I’m adamantly against it, but those nets are not yet completely dismantled, and the actions of this twat of a president do not disprove my overall point. America still has better safety nets than most countries in the world.
GraveyardOrbit@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 349d
Tedesche@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 347d
Source: my job experience.
You’re the one making shit up, man.
phoenixarise@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 345d
There are so many remote parts of America that don’t have internet and library access that many of us do.
48954246@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 349d
Ah, then the internet must be a utility right?
devolution@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 349d
Should be. Lol. You can thank the Republicans for it not being one.
TallonMetroid@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 349d
I don't get it, what's the actual face being eaten here and who does it belong to?
devolution@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 349d
Rural fucks vote for Republicans overwhelmingly. Rural folks are most likely to not be connected to the internet or have an email address. Republicans now require an email address for FEMA access.
hraegsvelmir@ani.social · 19 pts · 349d
And even for those that do have email and internet access, rural America isn't exactly known for having robust infrastructure or government programs to respond to disasters, so they could quite likely find themselves unable to access their email in the aftermath of a disaster, anyway.
roofuskit@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 349d
Add to that, even if you have an email address, disaster victims are most likely to loose access to it for long periods when they would need it for this.
TallonMetroid@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 349d
Honestly, that seems overly broad to me, since this doesn't seem like the result of any campaign plank that rural voters actually specifically supported, but fair enough. Thanks for the explanation.
kautau@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 349d
My guess is it's the result of trying to lower FEMAs budget and focus on more "accountibility" which are certainly right wing talking points
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club · 2 pts · 349d
It is people who want small government finding out that programs that benefit them or their communities are getting cut.
We're not even in hurricane season, yet.
Niquarl@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 348d
IR's not the hurricane season in the USA? There are hurricanes and storms at the moment
GetTwatted@lemmy.cafe · 1 pts · 348d