The Semantics of Poverty Discourse is Holding Us Back

Poverty. It’s hard for me to have anything but the most visceral, gut reaction to poverty. Coming from a city that is both the seat of the national government and that has the biggest income difference between the top and bottom quintiles of any major city in the country has imbued in me a serious, emotional, and resolute attitude towards poverty. I am a definite proponent of pragmatic political and social thinking. But when it comes to poverty, pragmatic thinking seems so often to steamroll over the lives of those who are already so down, that I cannot adopt any of this thinking or weave it into my worldview or ideology without feeling like I have betrayed and given up on myself, my city, and millions of American and billions of world citizens. The way in which we think about and frame the problem of poverty and inequality is not one that will facilitate lasting change. It is time for a new frame.

It is time for a new approach to clearing this great and long-lasting hurdle of poverty. Few things are of as much importance to me as ending the dehumanizing language and thought associated with those in our society who don’t have the means to make ends meet. We must change the language in which we discuss, and the ways in which we think about, overcoming this momentous challenge. This will help us clear the hurdle.

From the Meat to the Message: The Importance of Translating Complex Theories into Simple Messages to Create Big Movements

As Breakthrough Fellows, we are here to learn the details and finer points of the philosophy of the Breakthrough Generation. Give us two hundred pages to read for tomorrow, and it’s done; ask us to write a couple hundred words about the subject matter, and it’ll be (basically) complete by mid-day. However, Breakthrough is meant to galvanize an entire generation of youth, regardless of how deeply immersed in the issues each person is. We do not have the luxury of sending out readers to each person whom we would like to sign on to our mission. Even if we could, to paraphrase Break Through, people aren’t looking to subscribe to data or science or even facts; people sign on to ideology, to the story that we are telling.

It is important for us to keep in mind that if we want our message to spread, it must be one that is inclusive and inspiring, yet grounded and relatable. When Kennedy said, famously, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” he created a message that the entire country could sign on to. There was no specific promise, no detailed explanation of a plan; there was simply an ideal, an entire system of thoughts and beliefs condensed into a short sentence. It is this type of message that will help us tell our story at Breakthrough.