Maria wrote: "Poverty and inequality can not be addressed without
contextualization. This was what my comment was about."

Absolutely correct. And contextually speaking, many people in poverty in
Canada, while they live with malnutrition and poor housing (often no
housing), have the Internet as their only means of connecting to the outside
world and their communities. 

Many of us, myself included, don't have a phone, although people having a
phone in this country is assumed and is deemed a prerequisite for gaining
employment. 

Ergo, Daphne and I are left to the Internet to pass word along of our
availability for work. We've been very resourceful in using it. Are we thus
less "poor" because of this?

As for the look of poverty in countries like Canada where capitalism is god,
the gap is ever-widening between the rich and the poor. So while the mean
income of Canadian households continues its steady climb, fewer of those
households are benefiting from the economic boom. 

At the same time, the very affluence in this country sets up certain
standards and expectations for us all. We're all assumed to have a phone, a
car or easily accessible transportation, a home, furniture in said home, a
well-equipped kitchen (pots, pans, eating utensils etc.), money to pay
hydro, money to pay fuel for heating, a TV, a radio, money to buy newspapers
and magazines, a decent wardrobe for job interviews, a winter coat, good
footwear... The expectations are endless.

Anyone who doesn't meet these expectations is seen to be peculiar and "not
one of us." Ergo, we get marginalized yet again, not just because of our
material poverty but because we can't meet a certain lifestyle standard as
set by the more affluent among us.

Ocean

WISE Book - Policies of Exclusion, Poverty & Health: Stories from the front
Podcast Channel: http://bcseawalker.podbean.com/
Personal Blog: Challenging the Commonplace - and other irreverent activities
http://challengingthecommonplace.blogspot.com/

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