20 Unspoken Societal Rules

Speculations based off observations in my own life. Needless to say, I’ve broken all twenty.

1. Don’t ever be poor. That includes being born into poverty.
2. Don’t ever get laid off
3. Don’t ever have to flee your home to save your own life.
4. Don’t ever be homeless, even and especially if it’s because of Rule 3.
5. Never get sick
6. Never get injured
7. Never be hungry
8. Never get sick as a consequence of being hungry/homeless. If you’re a kid, you’ll end up having to repeat a grade over attendance. If you’re an adult, you’ll probably be the first target for layoffs.
9. Never get in a car accident, especially when it took your family 15 years to save up for the car. It doesn’t matter that the other driver is on your side of the road and that you are trapped between telephone poles, other cars and other solid objects
10. Don’t ever not own a car. If you don’t own a car, you don’t deserve to have a job. It doesn’t matter that you intend to save for a car with your earnings, or that your job duties do not entail tasks for which a car is required.
11. Don’t question your (so-called) “betters”. They are always right. Even when they aren’t
12. Don’t call out your boss for immoral acts. By virtue of being the boss, anything and everything he could possibly do is moral
13. Never be a bully target. If you are, it’s your fault and you deserve it because you don’t have social skills. It doesn’t matter that you had absolutely no trouble making friends in  every other environment you’ve experienced.You still lack social skills simply because the bullies singled you out
14. Don’t be a nonconformist. If you are, make sure you’re the “conformist nonconformist” type that conforms to a DIFFERENT label from the most common label in your area. Otherwise, you’re a “fake *insert label here*” when you never wanted to be labeled to begin with
15. Never have money in the bank if you live in Section 8 housing. You’ll be penalized for saving. If you can afford to save money toward buying non-section 8 housing, you can afford higher section 8 rent so you can stay trapped in the government aid quagmire forever
16. Don’t be unemployed. Even more, don’t ever receive Unemployment Insurance. It doesn’t matter that you had to work a certain length of time and make a certain amount when working to begin with. If you get UI, you are automatically lazy. Too lazy to work. After all, that’s the only reason someone could possibly be unemployed.
17. Don’t be anything other than straight as a ruler. Bisexual, homosexual, transexual, pansexual, asexual and anything else not heterosexual are not okay.
18. Don’t be a woman. If you are, you’re only good for being a sex toy and a source of food and procreation.
19. Don’t be both poor and in the 97th percentile on every “intelligence” test and standardized test. You’ll make Social Darwinists uneasy and incur their need to lash out at you and drag you down to their level of intelligence. You won’t succeed in school anyway, no matter how smart you are (Stepping out of sarcastic bitter vein for a second- my first grade teacher made the prediction that I would be incarcerated in  jail for my “criminal insanity” in challenging her views during class before I was 13 and never graduate. Wrong on both counts.She also got teacher of the year… which should lend you some insight about where you live)
20. Don’t be both poor and well-spoken/adept at handling social situations like country clubs as a more affluent friend;s guest or political events on campus. Actually, wait, that’s not possible, because CLEARLY poor people are incapable of adapting to surroundings different from their own. As such, you must be exaggerating about how much your family struggled from when you were little

Author's Note

If you are a social Darwinist or the sort of person who believes your favorite major political party can do no wrong and that your political party is a bastion of good while the other is Hitler-level evil, I WILL likely offend you at some point- you have been warned.

ADDENDUM: I know other places have their own issues, but as I only know my own life and have never been outside the United States because I am too poor, I cannot pass judgment on the unspoken rules of other places with nonexistent direct experience, and it would be stereotyping if I made assumptions based off one individual . Nor can I understand certain other societal wrongs (such as how it truly feels to be a minority because I am not subjected to the sorts of reprehensible assumptions the ignorant make about them) firsthand. Hence writing only about what I can thoroughly understand based off personal experience.

Reviews

[Marie]

I agree with all of these except ll, 17, and of course, 18

[Baby Ricochet]

Interesting list. Unfortunately being poor in America is viewed as criminal as the land of milk and honey slides into the land of haves and have nots. We need a socioeconomic revolution but we're not going to get it.

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Agreed, it's really sad how complacent most are. Alas, our societal leaders have done a very good job at triangulating groups who should be united to fight the opppressive powers that be

[Lyn Anderson]

This is a great write, and a wonderful point of view.

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Thanks! [=

[Nusquam Esse]

Lets see... I fail #1, being born into poverty, and I suppose my current employment is below poverty line as well, but since I am single, it is more than sufficient for my needs, and even desires. I have worked jobs which paid about 4 times as much, but I was sick of deskjobs, and decided that I would rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable. I love my job, something physical, despite how people look down on me for it! #2, I was laid off... from my first W2 based job, but that was because they were closing the entire branch, I was able to get re-employed easily enough--referenced again below. I failed #4, after some particularly nasty domestic issues, I lived on the streets between age 16 and 17, until I was able to successfully nab employment. I think we all have failed on #5=7 at some point, some more than others. #8 was tough, but I managed to avoid this one... I actually kept going to school when I was on the streets, the hardest thing was keeping a high enough standard of hygiene so no one would notice. I used gym showers and bathrooms to clean myself and my 3 sets of clothes. If anyone noticed, they never confronted me; I was careful to not show my own problems to other people, because I did not want Social Services interfering. #9 is so true, since most people only have liability insurance. Another one which I failed, I was t-boned by a large truck doing ~75 mph. I did not have medical insurance, so I refused to go to the hospital. I had the paramedics check for internal bleeding, popped my bones back in, and walked home (despite strong resistance from the paramedics and the police present; probably not the best idea, but it worked out)... took a bath and slept for a few days. Fortunately, the car I was driving was a clunker anyway, so it was only about a grand lost or so. Since then, I have failed #10, I decided that a car was an unnecessary expense, and use public transportation and walking. I live a mile from my current work place, so I walk pretty much everywhere; so long as I have the time, I consider anything under 20 miles to be walking distance. I think we all have failed #11, if nothing else, the people who consider themselves 'my betters' are ignorant of my past, otherwise they wouldn't be so quick to judge; because of my blue-collared job, people assume me to be stupid and poorly educated. Never done #12, at least assuming being a dumbass is not a question of morality. Definitely failed #13, I didn't hit puberty until I was around 18, so I was really small and a natural target. Now I am larger than most people so this no longer applies. I went from that guy who looks like he belongs in an elementary, to the guy that people mistake for a bouncer. Definitely #14, growing up in Utah I was a Pacifist, non-Republican, and Atheist; so I was always scorned by everyone else for not conforming the mass republican brain deficient masses, especially after 9/11. Never done #15, probably because of my age? I definitely did #16, after being laid off, I was on my last semester of college, so I decided to finish it up before getting a new job; so I admittedly milked unemployment insurance for like 2 months. #17, I am completely straight... however, I am one of those people that will hit on men as a joke, so... perhaps you should add 'sexually tolerant' and 'sexually secure' to that list; I seriously wish I was gay though, would make things easier... but unfortunately I am quite straight. I am a man, so #18 is out of the question, although I feel I should add, I cook better than any woman I have met; most women around here can cook basic deserts and that is it, yet act as though being female innately blesses their cooking prowess! I definitely qualify on #19, I have regularly came out on the top 0.1% in the nation in pretty much every academic exam. I did however, do decent at school, despite all the poor attendance. I ended up taking the ACT when I was 15, and scoring a 31 which while not perfect, is amazing considering my age at the time. I was able to go to college a bit early, skipping high school (with the exception of a few classes). Fortunately, I was able to secure a high paying tech job when I was 17 (the one that got me off the streets) and I was able to pay my way through college. I have got to be one of the few people who managed to get a bachelors before age 20, out of their own pocket and without being in debt after the fact. And I got to say, it was tough as hell... first with being homeless and trying to keep up appearances; followed by the sheer number of hours I worked. It is tough working 50-60 hours a week while also taking 18 credit hours; I did not sleep much for those years. Funny enough, I definitely qualified for #20 as well, I somehow managed to be placed on the student council as a Student Body Officer, WHILE living on the streets. I don't really do the whole country club stuff though. I mostly hang out with the Hispanics in my area... which probably doesn't count as affluent surroundings.

Thanks for writing this, sorry for the lengthy response, but I figured why not compare myself with the list? I really like how you put the spotlight on society's hypocrisy! I recently wrote a short story similar in theme, although I still need to do some revisions, since it is a first draft. I won't bother to try and get people to read it though, because it is a somewhat lengthy read. 'Pittance and Indulgence'

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

That is quite okay! and when the myth of free time bacomes reality and I don't feel like working on my three books, I will most definitely have to check it out. I am quite touched and grateful for your verbose reply, as a matter of fact. We shall have to talk, as I must explain how all 20 fit me. (What's odd is when people first meet me, they for some reason assume I'm from an affluent background- my classmates at my college were absolutely shocked when they learned my true roots via me correcting their false impressions. I guess that's a good thing that may very well help me though? I only wish I knew what it was so I could help others emulate whatever it is in case it helps them towards escaping the quagmire o_O )

[Frieda P]

Seems to me many of us are royally screw'd with this list...#18 'don't be a woman', now that one smacked me over the head and flipped me over. All valid points, Raymond sent me your way, glad he did, hard hitting poetry here.

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Yeah, the whole list screws me as well, alas. Each and every item

[Vidya Bacchus]

Hey Cher how you going girl? These are some hard hitting points you make.Well penned and sharp as a tack.

[Raymond Federle]

This was EXCELLENT...I'd recommend it for all to read!! :)

[A.M. Victoria (LostWrit..]

General first impressions:
@ #11 - Whoever called themselves your "better" in the first place must be compensating for something.
@ #18 - This one bothers me. Not because I don't agree with you (because I do), but because I think that by now, the world should be way past gender roles and stereotyping. Too many people forget that many of the greatest accomplishments came from womankind. They are still trapped in the 1950s.
@ #19 ()- Teacher of the Year? Wow. Perhaps the voters were bribed. Or maybe she threatened them?
@ All - Society needs to stop looking through its mental tunnel vision.

Three words to describe this write: Influential. Powerful. Impressive.
Outstanding list!

(My only criticism is that it gets the reader to think in list format. Oh well. 100/100) :)

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Thank you so much for the review. Yep, she got teacher of the year! Never mind that she's a nightmare to any student not produced perfectly by the cookie cutter. BAD teacher to have if you're a six year old budding nonconformist sort.

society,.. Just oy.