Anyone else love flow charts??

Biblioklept

(Apologies for the swear word it's not my flow chart!! A lovely MP created it in 2020 during the pandemic)

It's regarding who should be using food banks. What do we think??

Hannah_Alumni

It enrages a fire in me @Biblioklept

Glad that MP didn't win. He didn't even stick around for the winners speech out of curtesy. Tells you everything really! 

Albus_Scope

Personal opinion, but I think that MP doesn't realise how essential mobile phones are to people these days. 

66Mustang

Sort of agree, but not with the numbers, if someone pays say £100+ for a TV package or has nice eyebrows done weekly or has a £1000 iPhone Pro then they can afford to eat they just have their priorities wrong

I don't agree when it asks if you work, what about people who can't work due to health

MW123

The flow chart exclusively focused on individuals who were categorised as employed or unemployed. This prompts one to question whether there was a flow chart designed to address the specific situations of those who experienced furloughs, business closures, bankruptcy or the workers who lost their jobs as a direct result of the pandemic's impact. 

The MP's flow chart for determining food bank eligibility, which considers spending on TV subscriptions and personal grooming, reflects a judgmental and insensitive attitude. It oversimplifies the complexities of poverty, stigmatises those seeking assistance, lacks empathy, and promotes inequality.

 

Sandy_123

Just wow 

THE_DUDE

So don't feed the kids because parents want eyebrows done, expensive phones etc. That chart looks like a kid wrote it because they weren't getting their chocolate milk. 

rebel11

MP's are detached from the 'real world', they have offices, their teams deal with most of the 'correspondence', which will flag up  'big' issues if the correspondence stacks up. 

Yes, their 'office' deal with individual Joe / Jane Public issues, they get well versed on how to deal with it.

If a town had an infestation of 'Zombies' that would test the MP's resolve, no doubt once it reached the Prime Minister they would hold a 'COBRA' meeting.   

Biblioklept

66Mustang said:

Sort of agree, but not with the numbers, if someone pays say £100+ for a TV package or has nice eyebrows done weekly or has a £1000 iPhone Pro then they can afford to eat they just have their priorities wrong

I don't agree when it asks if you work, what about people who can't work due to health

I don't completely disagree with what you've said but I'd add that TV services and packages are usually contracted for a length of time. And even if your personal circumstances change there's no easy get out without paying for the rest of the contract. 
So people sign up to them when they can easily afford and life can happen meaning they now can't. 
Same with phones etc. 
Of course they could sell the phone or whatever but the majority of people have them on contracts, so are still paying for it monthly anyway.

Biblioklept

THE_DUDE said:

So don't feed the kids because parents want eyebrows done, expensive phones etc. That chart looks like a kid wrote it because they weren't getting their chocolate milk. 

Yeah this is my thought too! Even if the reason someone is using a foodbank is because they weren't careful with money or whatever, that shouldn't mean their kids suffer.

Biblioklept

Albus_Scope said:

Personal opinion, but I think that MP doesn't realise how essential mobile phones are to people these days. 

So true!! Everything you do wants a contact number, getting a job requires one, and claiming benefits does too!

Jimm_Scope

I mean, at least he didn't become an MP.

I do love flowcharts, when they aren't being used to be horrible to other people.

66Mustang

I think this example illustrates the point I am trying to make:

If on Monday I had spent all my money on eating and heating so on Tuesday I claimed I am struggling because I can’t afford the latest £1000+ iPhone Pro, you would, quite rightfully, laugh at me and tell me I am not struggling because I have food and heating.

So, if I did it the other way round…on Monday I had spent all my money on the latest £1000+ iPhone Pro, and on Tuesday say I can’t afford to eat or heat, why does that deserve more sympathy? I want the same items, I have just prioritised them differently and bought them in a different order?

IMO, if anyone deserves anything, the person who prioritises food and heating deserves commendation.

Jimm_Scope

I understand that but how many people are actually doing that? How many people are actually unable to feed/heat themselves but are also asking, or buying, a £1000 phone before food/heating? I struggle to believe the number is very high, if it exists at all. To use them to demonise the majority of people without money (not saying you are doing this but the person who made the flowchart is) is a tactic to dehumanise and ensure people are fighting among themselves and not tackling the base issues.

The picture above is about a phone contract that is £30 a month. That can be a lot for someone, it can also be something you have to pay extra to get out of if you're halfway through the contract. Could be your finances have suddenly become much worse. 

Also I'll note the misogynistic slant here where he's specifically targeting women (note the "nails/lips/eyebrows"). Heavily suggests men can't be single parents? Or that men somehow avoid these financial difficulties? A very interesting question he leaves unanswered. If women are more likely to be in such poverty that they cannot feed their kids why is that? And why isn't he suggesting any solutions to that?


Also as an afterthought, if your job requires or expects a certain level of personal presentation perhaps they cannot forgo those lips/nails/eyebrows or else they potentially don't get money from their job?

It just shows a strong lack of empathy or being able to consider other peoples situations.