this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2024
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[–] MrJameGumb@lemmy.world 230 points 7 months ago (3 children)

He did prove one thing, and that is that rich people legitimately think anyone who has less money than they do is just lazy. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary and his own failure the article seems to imply that he still thinks that is the case lol guess he didn't learn anything at all...

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.world 105 points 7 months ago

The only way you can hoard money like that is to convince yourself that poverty is a moral failing. Otherwise, your conscience can't handle it.

Nobody thinks they're the bad guy.

[–] applepie@kbin.social 19 points 7 months ago

They know but their passive income depends on them not "knowing" and you knowing and acting up on it.

[–] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 218 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Despite falling short of his financial goal, Black said his journey showcased the power of determination and the importance of health and family

So he learned absolutely nothing about the plight of countless millions of people. Got it.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 149 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Worse, he thinks he was just unlucky that he happened to get sick, and thinks his "success" proves he was right all along. Meanwhile, his "success" was entirely built on leeching off other people and abusing charity.

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.world 81 points 7 months ago

The sad part is that he couldn't put two and two together. Health problem interrupting your job? It's not like poor people ever have to deal with health problems, they're just lazy, right? /s

[–] tryitout@infosec.pub 30 points 7 months ago (2 children)

The luck bit really clashes with the survivorship bias.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 28 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I mean, he's lucky he could bail on poverty. His dad got sick, and he didn't have to stop working to care for his dad. He was seeing a doctor regularly to monitor his health, and could call it when his health started to really suffer, after just 10 months.

[–] Xin_shill@lemm.ee 14 points 7 months ago (1 children)

How was he paying for the damn doctors during his experiment

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 20 points 7 months ago

Obviously he wasn't going to stop paying for health insurance, only a fool would do that

[–] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago

"As a very rich person I was just unlucky to hit some health problems in this experiment. But all those yucky poor people? Nah, that's morning to do with bad luck. That's just bootstraps and laziness." -Douchebag clueless millionaire experimenter

[–] StaticFalconar@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago

He was also nowhere near 1 million bucks with two months left.

[–] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago

And this charity and help wouldn't exist if the world actually worked like he wants it to.

[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 7 months ago

Black said his journey showcased the power of determination and the importance of health and family

So...he's going to give away all his money now right?

Because he proved he can do it again.

Right?

[–] Mastengwe@lemm.ee 108 points 7 months ago (3 children)

If he could go back to being rich, he was never poor- nor homeless, but a clown trying to profit from his shit antics.

[–] ivanafterall@kbin.social 44 points 7 months ago

Moreover, despite faking the whole thing, he was still somehow too soft to hack it. He literally couldn't handle pretend homelessness.

[–] BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 14 points 7 months ago

But still you'll never get it right
'Cause when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you called your dad he could stop it all

Pulp had it right in 1995

[–] TheFriendlyDickhead@lemm.ee 8 points 7 months ago

I wouldn't see it that hard. He had some weird views of the world, but through this he saw that it's not as easy as he thought and I am sure he won't say the same shit as he did before.

[–] DessertStorms@kbin.social 95 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Fuck poverty porn and fuck people like this guy who think they can "try out" poverty like it's a fucking suit before opting out at the point where most of us poors start out (with stress related health conditions, except ours are not only from birth, but generational, with all the implications of that, and we can't just walk away and directly in to the office of the best doctors around like this fucker surely did).
What's even worse is I guarantee he's come out the other side thinking he actually learned something, convinced he has all the answers, and that his experience is important and "educational" enough to put in a "self help" book he's going to ~~write~~ get someone to ghost write for poor people to learn from his experience... 🤬

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Been thinking about it again too, would Black be able to make his first $300 even if he had the mental and physical fatigue he had at 10 months of the experiment? Also even if he did, without his lucky break where he even generously got access to an RV to sleep in and a computer to work on (rather than having to constantly worry about shelter space as he has been), would he even be able to achieve anything close to what he did?

[–] skozzii@lemmy.ca 5 points 7 months ago

If he was disabled or not in peak shape and mental state when he started it would have been a even worse outcome.

Imagine if he was sick 50% of the time, and he could only work half that. He would be in poverty like almost every other disabled person.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 76 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

I wonder how he made the photos and accessed Craigslist.

People refused to give him water and he was unable to find a place to stay the night.

Eventually, a man with an RV allowed him to stay for several nights in his van.

Black started off small and managed to make his first $300 by selling furniture online.

By the fifth day of the challenge he had made enough money to buy himself a computer.

Almost two weeks in, he was able to secure his own office space and after just over one month, Black finally had his own place to rent.

Three months into the challenge, Black's entrepreneurial spirit appeared to shine through having set himself up as a social media manager, managing to land clients - while even coming up with his own brand of coffee.

While it's not hard labor by any means, it is interesting.

Four months into the challenge, on day 138, Black learned that his father was officially diagnosed with stage four colon cancer and had just started chemo which led Black to question the entire project - but he continued.

Black ended the challenge having completed 10 months, with just 60 days left to run. He had managed to make a grand total of $64,000.

My personal health has declined to the point where I really need to start taking care of it. Throughout the entire project, we haven't shared it with you, but I've been in and out of the doctor's office.'

Black explained how he also suffered from two autoimmune diseases which caused 'chronic fatigue' and another that attacked his joints.

That's the millionaire-funded healthcare system for ya.

[–] DessertStorms@kbin.social 52 points 7 months ago (2 children)

He's lying. 100%.
There is no way he did any of that without help from his existing network and connections, if he did it at all (again, I personally do not believe a single word of it).

[–] porcariasagrada@slrpnk.net 20 points 7 months ago (1 children)

of course he is lying. how do you sell furniture if you are homeless? what furniture do you have to sell? where is it stored? how do you transport it?

lots of questions that make this account dubious at best.

[–] nodiet@feddit.de 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

If you read the article you find that he didn't actually sell furniture, he got people on Facebook marketplace to pay him money for the privilege of collecting free furniture from Craigslist. It's a really shitty scheme

[–] Syn_Attck@lemmy.today 3 points 7 months ago

He did use existing network but the furniture was from the Craigslist free section and re-sold on fb marketplace. He arranged transport etc (unsure how, don't remember)

[–] return2ozma@lemmy.world 45 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Must be nice to just decide it's time to stop being poor.

[–] nieminen@lemmy.world 15 points 7 months ago

That is, in fact, all they seem to think it takes.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 64 points 7 months ago (1 children)

He failed, and he's a young white guy with the experience of a millionaire trying to be "homeless" in a place that never experienced -20c temperatures.

Literally as easy as it could get for him. And he failed.

Go ahead and try it while being a young black man. Or a woman. Or disabled. Or with a mental illness. Or an addiction. Or a child.

[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 24 points 7 months ago (1 children)

He failed, and he's a young white guy with the experience of a millionaire trying to be "homeless" in a place that never experienced -20c temperatures.

While being followed by a film crew, given a place to stay for free by a fan, a positive background check for his office space, and investors who knew who he was.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 22 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Even with cheat mode enabled, the guy still lost!

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 59 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Why can't the millions of homeless people just QUIT being homeless like this guy did and live a normal life?

[–] BeardedSingleMalt@kbin.social 21 points 7 months ago

Why can't the millions of homeless people just take a break from being homeless and pop in and out of the doctor's office anytime they start feeling fatigued.

[–] blattrules@lemmy.world 58 points 7 months ago

It’s disheartening that he didn’t learn that when you’re poor, even when you start to make progress, everything needs to continue to go your way because if you hit one bump in the road you need to start all over again. It’s too bad his “start all over again” was just “go back to being rich” and he really failed his social experiment.

[–] OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee 34 points 7 months ago

Wild that he was unable to prove that homeless people can just decide to earn $83,000/month.

[–] doublejay1999@lemmy.world 33 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 4 points 7 months ago

Amen, brother

[–] tillary@sh.itjust.works 16 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

My personal health has declined to the point where I really need to start taking care of it. Throughout the entire project, we haven't shared it with you, but I've been in and out of the doctor's office.'

Black explained how he also suffered from two autoimmune diseases which caused 'chronic fatigue' and another that attacked his joints.

Yeah, I once had a job working 60-70 hours a week. I ate terrible fast carbs for energy and slept 3-5 hours a night. Eventually I developed an autoimmune/CFS-like illness because I was ignoring my body's needs.

I think about the less fortunate who have to live this way under stress, all the time. The people who don't have the option to just "opt out of the experiment".

[–] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 8 points 7 months ago

Hey I think I've seen this movie

[–] BeardedSingleMalt@kbin.social 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

This reminds me of that personal trainer fitbro a few years back who thought fat people were just lazy...so he stopped being a fitbro for 30 days to put on weight and spent the next several weeks going back to being a fitbro to show fat people that it's not that hard to lose weight and get into shape.

[–] Azzu@lemm.ee 9 points 7 months ago

To be fair getting thin is incredibly simple. You just start eating less. No luck or resources needed. It's extremely hard psychologically of course.

But making a million dollars in 1 year is not as simple. You can't just take a single action repeatedly and it'll happen.

[–] Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee 2 points 7 months ago

Any person can become fit. There's a way to do it and it works if you just stick to it. This does not apply to becoming rich.

[–] KevonLooney@lemm.ee -5 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] return2ozma@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

I saw it there already but wanted others that might not have seen it there to see it.