I Promise I Don't Hate Poor People

Sure, I find the poor Distasteful, as do most Americans.  I think their choice of couch covers is almost always extremely gauche, for example.  But I don't hate them in that way that you're not supposed to hate them.  In that way where I acknowledge that it is their actual poorness that is the object of my hatred, or that I think that Being Poor is a character trait that I abhor.  

In fact, I even sometimes give money to The Homeless when I have a dollar in my pocket and they make sure not to look me directly in the eye, or if they have a child with them, because The Children are our future, even the poor ones.  

I prefer not to give money to people who stand outside my grocery store, because I feel that they are being emotionally manipulative by making me feel guilty for having reusable bags full of chips and ice cream when they don't actually have a place to sleep.  I don't want to reward them for that kind of behavior.  I will give money to the obviously drunk and/or high, however because if I were homeless, I'd be high all the damn time because it is cold outside and it even rained today.

Anyway, I don't usually actually become incensed by the actions of Chicago's poor folk, even the ones outside my grocery store, but I did almost slap a well-dressed teenager sitting on a bike who just held out his hand and said "Money?" when I came out of the drug store this weekend.  

Does that make me a racist?

Yeah, it probably does.  

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