On life in the Ghetto

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b_b · 4724 days ago

So, those of you that follow me might be aware that I live in Detroit. Detroit, as we all know from the media, has its fair share of economic problems. But, pockets of the city have had a great renaissance in the last four or five years. That said, those pockets are small, and it only takes walking a block or two off the beaten path to be in some seriously fucked neighborhoods. My point is that no matter how nice your home, there's no insulation from neighborhoods that scare average Southeast Michigan suburbanites.

Anyway, this new coffee shop just opened a few blocks from me, and feeling next to dead from having went to a midnight Dark Night then working all day, I ventured in for a coffee. I generally consider myself lower middle class, but for two coffees it was $7.75, and gladly, I paid, as their coffee is remarkably good. Then, as I was leaving, there was a bum standing right outside with a plastic bag full of bottles he was probably taking to the store (10¢ deposit here in MI). If I would have seen him on the way in and he asked me for money, I'm sure I would have said no, because I get begged for money everyday; I rarely fork over, because its so annoying and I can't pay everyone. But then I just paid the equivalent of an hour's work at minimum wage for two cups of coffee.

Wtf is wrong with me (us)? For all the bitching we do about rich people not paying taxes, or cash hoarding, etc, am I (are we) any better? The fact is I like expensive coffee, but is there an ethical price for buying it in a place where kids starve and get shot with fair regularity?

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shoe77 · 4724 days ago · link ·

I feel like people can extrapolate from anything and pose a question regarding the ethics, or I feel more precisely, the inequity of their actions. E.g I am a picky eater, therefore sometimes I choose not to eat certain foods or not finish everything I have. People are starving in Detroit, Africa, and so on, therefore I could call myself a spoiled degenerate. It's your money and have cashed in long hours to work for it. Plus the 7.75, in a sense, isn't merely for the coffee, but also for the livelihoods of the people who work. We can even say it helps Detroit's small business renewal and economy. You pay your taxes, and if you feel like it, you can also donate to causes to try to help out people if you need to help your moral compunction. But there will always be inequity in a free market system, in the world. The rich--and this of course is only some of them-- are different in the sense that they search for loop holes in the tax systems and often exploit people for their own gain. This is deliberate injustice, which I feel to be very different. If I'm not mistaken, you do no do that. Therefore, I think there is little wrong with buying the good coffee you have earned--and yearned.

+discuss+discuss

cgod · 4723 days ago · link ·

Wow that is an expensive coffee! Are you talking about latte's or mocha's or something? I like 2 blocks from one of the nations finest coffee shops (winners of the national barista championships many times) and I can get a coffee (french press) for $2.50. They serve Stumptown coffee which is pretty damn expensive (only illy is more expensive as far as I've seen on the wholesale level).

+discuss+discuss

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b_b · 4723 days ago · link ·

Well, two coffees, to be fair; one Americano and one soy latte, to be more precise. Detroit lags far behind the times when it comes to good coffee shops, but they're playing catch up. A couple have opened recently that are as good as anything I've had anywhere else, this new one, Great Lakes Coffee Roasters, among them.

+discuss+discuss

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cgod · 4723 days ago · link ·

That price is all good then.

+discuss+discuss

smoorman1024 · 4724 days ago · link ·

It's your money, from your work. You spend it as you please. You have no obligation to the man outside the coffee house. If you were to give him something would you feel good? Isn't that sense of good a little queer. To give someone something for nothing. Isn't a better sense to give it to the coffee house where they have worked to produce a great cup of coffee for you. You should feel good about that.