Folks, every now and then you come across a story that you have to read multiple times, because you think there’s no way it could be true. But sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. So, leave it to rich liberals to come up with what might be the most tone deaf event in the history of virtue signaling, tone deaf events.
The city of Highland Park, Illinois — a city 24/7 Wall Street described as “One of the Richest Cities in the Country” — in conjunction with The Alliance for Human Services, is holding a…wait for it…get ready…”Poverty Simulation Event" on Saturday, which is supposed to give rich people an “understanding and awareness for what it is like to live in poverty in Lake County,” Illinois.
The event alleges that “Participants in this immersive experience will begin to experience what a "month” in poverty feels like” — in two and a half hours.
Oh, and I didn’t even mention the kicker yet. They’re going to be holding this event…at the Highland Park Country Club.
As someone who grew up within half an hour of Highland Park, I can tell you that this event is nothing more than to let rich people feel good about themselves because they were able to put themselves in the average American’s shoes for a couple of hours. It’s so they can tell their friends at cocktail parties that they ‘did a good thing’ the other day, and ‘boy, was that hard.’
This event is the literal definition of virtue signaling.
For context, NBC 5 - Chicago reported the following on The Alliance for Human Services:
According to the Alliance for Human Services, the poverty simulation event is hosted throughout the year "to empower Lake County leaders, including teachers and other school personnel, government leaders, volunteers, and nonprofit staff and board members, to expand their knowledge, increase resources for those experiencing poverty, and create a more resilient health, human and education sector.”
The simulation asks participants to "role-play the lives of low-income individuals."
So basically, rich people are going to cosplay what it’s like to be poor for a couple of hours and say that they understand what it’s like to live in poverty for a month.
Highland Park City Manager Ghida Neukirch gave the following woke word-salad explanation for the event:
"The city is partnering with social services professionals from Highland Park and Lake County to offer this immersive experience to raise awareness of the need for resources to support individuals experiencing economic insecurity, and the wide-ranging consequences of this systemic inequity on families and communities," Neukirch told NBC 5 - Chicago in a statement. "Programs such as this one, which are developed and presented by social services professionals, are intended to bridge that gap."
If you really wanted to bring awareness that they need to “increase resources” for “those experiencing poverty,” why not just take the money they’re using to host the event and increase the funding for those very same resources that needed to be increased in the first place?
Instead of bringing awareness, just directly help those people they consider impoverished.
I understand awareness of a situation brings more eyeballs and, hopefully, more pocketbooks to said situation. But, this is really taking living in a bubble to a whole new level.
You know, I’ve always tried to expect more of the area I grew up in, but the more I look at it from the outside, the more I understand that hoping Chicagoans and people in the surrounding areas begin to “get it,” whatever “it” is, has become a lesson in futility.
Grow up, Chicagoland.
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— MRCTV (@mrctv) September 6, 2023