Pity and Poverty

Pity objectifies people in poverty; yet many mistake pity for compassion. Pity involves viewing and/or treating an individual as an object that one feels sorry for. Often times, looks, tonal quality, and other actions will indicate this objectification, and the individual being objectified will feel like he/she is less of a person. Pity involves a disrespectful view and treatment of an individual.

On the other hand, compassion involves viewing and/or treating an individual with empathy, straightforwardness, and tact. Looks, tonal quality, and overall actions that blare, “Oh, I feel so sorry for you,” are not used. Rather the individual is treated like a friend. Compassion involves understanding that circumstances do not define the person and that she could be in the same shoes as the other. With pity, the person is defined by her circumstances.  Pity can take on many different levels, ranging from directly talking to people in poverty as if they were children to the outright public portrayal of people in poverty as helpless.

In the latter case, many people feel that by portraying people in poverty as helpless, miserable, and pathetic, they are being compassionate because they “sympathize” with people in need. Additionally, they see themselves as philanthropists because they often ask for people to aid these people in conjunction with this public portrayal of pity.

Unfortunately, such an attitude is not only degrading but inaccurate and destructive. By defining people by their circumstances in such a negative way we dehumanize them.   Despite this inaccurate portrayal, many people in poverty possess an incredible amount of strength and joy despite, and perhaps in part due to, such harsh circumstances.

Such negative views also facilitate a sense of helplessness on the part of people in poverty. This helplessness is destructive because people may choose to patronize and initiate and facilitate dependency cycle techniques to aid those in poverty instead of techniques that encourage self- sufficiency. However, pity does not exclusively objectify and degrade people in poverty. Prisoners, people with disabilities, people with mental disorders, and other marginalized groups are also portrayed as objects of pity and suffer similar negative consequences.