The New York Times reports:
Ben Carson, the head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, faced an intense backlash on Wednesday for calling poverty “a state of mind.” Mr. Carson, who oversees a department that handles housing for millions of low-income Americans, made the comments during a radio interview on Tuesday with Armstrong Williams, a friend and conservative media personality. During the talk, Mr. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, said he thought some people were poor because of their outlook on life.
“I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind,” he said, according to a transcript of the interview that was released on Wednesday. “You take somebody that has the right mind-set, you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they’ll be right back up there.” He added that helping people may not better their lives. “You take somebody with the wrong mind-set, you can give them everything in the world — they’ll work their way right back down to the bottom,” Mr. Carson said.
Tomorrow Carson will be in Hungary to deliver a presentation at an international convention of anti-LGBT hate groups.
Ben Carson says that poverty is a “state of mind.” You know what else is a state of mind? Always being a blithering idiot.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) May 24, 2017
Dear @SecretaryCarson,
States of mind:
✔️ Happy
✔️ Sad
✔️ New YorkNOT a state of mind:
❌ Systemic poverty https://t.co/HAuQrNzvTL— Nita Lowey (@NitaLowey) May 24, 2017
Huh. We say poverty is the condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support.https://t.co/HBXsKo83sQ https://t.co/IRdMSW93eC
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) May 24, 2017
So is hunger apparently. Let’s Jedi Mind trick ourselves into eating a steak. https://t.co/t20slNjhIF
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) May 24, 2017
I just imagined a few million into my bank account, thanks Ben Carson https://t.co/uYqFjQwWXR
— thomas a moore ? (@Thomas_A_Moore) May 24, 2017
Ben Carson said poverty is a state of mind.
Next month, I’m going to tell my landlord that I paid my rent with positive thinking!
— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) May 24, 2017