Stop Being Poor

Confirmed 173,066

About

"Stop Being Poor" is an expression often used ironically to mock conservative or libertarian platforms arguments against public-funded healthcare or other social services.

Origin

On September 3rd, 2005, writer John Scalzi published a post on his personal blog titled "Being Poor," which includes the line "Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor."^[5]

Spread

On August 31st, 2012, BuzzFeed published a compilation of Gina Rinehart's poverty gaffe memes titled "4 Ways To Stop Being Poor, According To The World’s Richest Woman."

On May 2nd, 2013, Tumblr ^[6] user softwaring posted a photoshopped picture of Paris Hilton wearing a shirt with "Stop Being Poor" printed on the front. The post received more than 92,000 notes in less than eight years (shown below). On November 9th, the hoax-debunking website Museum of Hoaxes revealed that the actually shirt was printed with the phrase "Stop Being Desperate."

In September 2014, Fox Business commentator Todd Wilemon told Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi that poor people should "stop being poor" in order to afford healthcare. On September 26th, a GIF of the interview was uploaded to Imgur, where it received upwards of 440,000 views and 9,200 points over the next three years (shown below).

On September 1st, 2015, a shirt printed with the phrase became available for purchase on Amazon.^[2] In early 2017, the photoshopped Hilton image resurfaced in jokes regarding the GOP replacement of Obamacare. On March 10th, Twitter user joeprince__ uploaded a photoshop of Paul Ryan's PowerPoint presentation with a "Just Stop Being Poor" slide (shown below).