The caveat here is that this all applies exclusively to adults, and does NOT apply when it comes to things like sexual violence and calamaties totally outside your control.

This is problematic because often, understanding the role you played in getting yourself in a fucked up situation is necessary to making better choices and not falling into the same rut again in the future.

Learing from negative experiences in ways that expand your sense of agency is important

The notion that you must be a "perfect victim" to receive compassion and care discourages people in need of help from taking personal responsibility, because the cost of empathy is somehow proving you played no role in your predicament.

3. The notion that the cost of compassion is "perfect victimhood".

ie; if your mistakes or poor choices are at all a factor in your struggles, then you are unworthy of compassion or help. This is top-tier bullshit.

You don't need to be a "perfect victim" to be worthy of compassion and care.

Epstein emails leaked that said there are photos of Trump giving Bill Clinton a blow job at an Epstein party in the 90s.

In other words, don't do shit that harms you more than your opponents out of anger & spite.

The system isnt harmed in by you preserving financial ignorance & making bad choices unknowingly. FinLit is just learning how to get out of your own way, in a world where there are enough outside obstacles.

Getting these needs met isn't an alternative to ending oppression though, and you shouldn't sacrifice having your needs met in this life in the name of protesting the system.

As the Afro-Caribbean proverb goes, "don't cut your nose to spite your face."

There are individual and collective consequences of lacking these skills. There are historical and systemic reasons why some communities have higher levels of it than others. Oppression necessitates depriving people of essential things they need to live.

Framing it as an ideology is problematic - whether that's coming from the anti-capitalist left or from center-right influencers presenting it as an alternative to challenging economic injustice in marginalized (usually Black) communities.

I hear a lot of leftists dismiss "financial literacy" as an ideological distraction, when in reality it's not an ideology it's a life skill (again, like cooking and cleaning).

There are enough systems in place gatekeeping this knowledge from marginalized communities, I don't think it makes sense to further dissuade people from learning by framing it as just a silly trick from the ruling class or in conflict with liberation.

Financial literacy is just a practical and essential life-skill like knowing how to cook, clean or shave. Knowing how to make an effective budget, save up emergency funds or plan for retirement is just a survival necessity.

I unfortunately hear this a lot. I was having a discussion earlier about the attached post below. I think it's partially true, but also developing financial literacy is not mutually exclusive with organizing against systemic oppression or capitalist exploitation.

Society evolves across four dimensions at once:

1. Systems & institutions that organize collective life
2. Behaviors of people within those systems
3. Cultures & narratives that shape social life
4. Consciousness of individuals

Most political philosophies only address 1 or 2 of these.

Authoritarianism, for example, often reflects collective psychological regression—a desire for protection, order, or parental authority when the world feels overwhelming.

In reality, citizens carry the imprint of generational trauma, unstable attachment patterns, cultural fragmentation, insecure ego structures, and unmet emotional needs. These psychological realities shape political behavior far more than information or ideology.

Political institutions often assume that people will behave rationally, deliberate cooperatively, regulate their emotions in conflict, and prioritize long-term collective interests. Reality does not validate this assumption.

No political system, however well-designed, can flourish when its citizens are overwhelmed by unresolved trauma or lack the emotional and spiritual resources needed to participate constructively in collective life.

The fracture of democratic culture mirrors the fracture of the psychological and spiritual lives of the people living within it.