"The mother of revolution and crime is poverty"(Aristotle). Do you agree?

I agree to a large extent.

Inequality between the rich and poor is an undeniable problem in the world. There is a worrying problem of an increasing income gap between the rich and the poor, regardless of whether in developing or developed countries. This leads to a class divide among the people. Poverty, which is defined as the condition of being extremely poor, cripples an economy and cause social problems as well. Thus, it is a problem that has to be addressed.

In my argument, I would be making much reference to Singapore.’

A strong and wealthy economy like Singapore’s, also faces the problem of a widening income gap. Even though reports show that Singapore has commendable economic growth in recent years despite the drastic shift from a manufacturing industry to a knowledge-based one, reports have also shown that incomes among the bottom thirty percent of households had fallen. Many of the less educated people in Singapore are victims of the income reductions because they fail to possess qualities that are required in a knowledge-based economy. The Singapore government has also acknowledged this problem of poverty, and has taken measures to address the matter.

To deal with the problem, the government has made changes to its political system. Even though wages of the people remains unchanged, there has been an increase in the amount of money given to render help to people in the area of health care, housing and education.

However, the government fails in identifying that poverty is also caused by the rich being rich, and not just because of the poor being poor. The Straits Times daily quoted official data showing that in the last five years, one in three students on government scholarships came from families with incomes of more than S$10,000 a month, while such families make up only thirteen percent of all Singapore households. This clearly shows that the rich are well represented in the country. This is a problem because this allows the rich to make policies and such that favor their interests more than the nations’. This way, the rich would only get richer while the poor remain poor. The government should try to adopt policies like a minimum wage law in order to protect the interest of the poor.

When the poor get poorer, they will be driven to a corner, and desperation will very likely cause them to commit crimes in order to survive. Financial burdens will cause them to steal, rob, or loot, and unhappiness about the income gap escalate into riots and arson. Our civilized society would become a wreck. Then, people do illegal activities like drug trafficking because it is easy money. The strong need to earn money fast encourages these people to take up these activities even though they are aware of the consequences. Most people do not commit crimes for fun. The cause of crimes is desperation, and desperation is usually caused by poverty.

Clearly, poverty is apparent, and may prove to be detrimental to a nation’s economy and society if it is not dealt with properly. Poverty definitely spells dissatisfaction with material wealth, and dissatisfaction among the people would cause numerous problems for a country. Evidently, the root cause of revolution and crimes is poverty.

I agree that the mother of revolution is poverty. However, crimes can also be caused by other factors. Some people commit crimes purely for the sake of getting attention or for the thrill of it, and this has nothing to do with poverty.

Forms of Discrimination

Lookism
Definition: Discrimination or prejudice against people based on their appearance.
Lookism in all spheres (creditst to lookism.info)Corelations to other forms of discrimination (creditst to lookism.info)


Ageism
Definition: Discrimination based on age, especially prejudice against the elderly.
http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/ageism.html

Xenophobia
Definition: A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia

Disablism

Definition: discrimination against people with disabilities in favor of people who are not disabled.

http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/disablism

http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/departments/closerlook/000947.html