Submitted by lettuceLeafer in meta
So I thought of this question when I read Thai comment
https://raddle.me/f/memer/139884/-/comment/237825
So this was in a discussion about being against the accumulation of resources. So my first reaction was like damn that is like an incredibly messed up. Sure like rich people can hoard wealth but in my experience when people talk about hoarding I more think of hoarding disorder which is pretty similar and called the same thing. Plus that's how it's used more often in my experience bc hoarding is actually pretty common.
The short breif part of this is that like hoarding disorder often is like a trauma induced response that people have. Usually caused by something like food insecurity, extreme poverty, growing up in a house of a hoarder or a compensation for severe lack of control just as being sexually assaulted.
Fror example then later in life after this issue people get a bunch of stuff that literally makes their life worse and just like can't get rid of it. I mean it's stuff that makes their life worse and they emotionally basically find it impossible to stop aquiring and get rid of things.
And this isn't even like a rich person thing. Usually poor hoarders hord stuff that was going to be thrown away or sold for very cheap at like a yard sale or something.
So I guess my question is when does the hoarding discourse become actually harmful to marginalized people. I'd say I don't care to much when it's specific that it's about hoarding like bezos or kinoshavos comment about being against accumulation in some utopian society. Tho I think potatoes comment is harmful.
I made that connection and I'm not a hoarder. If I was a hoarder myself and hoarding being something I think about a lot I would definitely take the comment as a statement on me being a shitty person or doing something wrong.
But like plenty of haorders don't really cause problems. Like if ur like most poor or middle class hoarder you are hoarding stuff that most of the time was just going to be thrown away or like second hand stuff that was just sitting in someone else's attic. That's not problematic at all. And especially considering it's a coping mechanism for some pretty intense trauma I think raddle would be a far less friendly place to these people.
Idk, I think this comment could easily be viewed in a way that punches down at some people who are really struggling even if that wasn't the authors intent. Also I'm not trying to call out potatoes or anything. They are just a good example. Plus anarchism as a whole frequently promotes oppressing people veiwed as committing the sin of gluttony.
I'm also not against people complaining about wealth inequality or those will the ability to provide necessary resources but withhold them for power or whatever. More so I do get some bad vibes from the hoarding discourse in general. I mention this bc I think there is a discussion to be had about maybe making raddle a better place and preventing vulnerable people who are generally shit on by society not getting unnecessary flak on raddle too.
NoPotatoes wrote
So "hoarding the mental disorder" usually involves someone accumulating possessions that most people don't value highly. So why would there be an incentive to separate this person from those possessions? Especially if such an action would cause mental trauma to the person?