I love her using the mutual aid tag. Leeches like her are why none of this shit works with strangers. At my most poor, I had a group of other poor friends, and we'd loan money back and forth with each other. It worked wonderfully, because we were all invested in helping each other, not just being helped. People like Polly just look at what they're given as a bonus to what they already get, not something to be reinvested back into other people. You know she's never sent anyone a donation.
Bingo.
Mutual aid also works best IRL, among people who know each other because so much of the aid that makes a real difference doesn't come in the form of money. Giving somebody a ride, watching their kids, taking care of their animals, providing services (such as minor car or household repairs, haircuts, making birthday cakes and party decorations, sewing and alterations, etc.), scouting for free stuff or good deals others might want, bulk-buying staple foods together—I could go on.
But in that scenario, you aren't just given what you need by your IRL social network; you're expected to offer useful things in return, so you do. And sometimes, it's inconvenient, but when you know it's the difference between that person getting/keeping a job, or getting health care for themselves or a family member, or being able to make the trip home to see their family again, you do it. Because leaving them to flounder and fail only makes things worse for everybody, and because you might need them to do the same things for you one day. Also, having a reputation for reliability and trustworthiness is a form of currency in itself—it's what got me an apartment after being briefly homeless, and the first job that gave me a toehold up out of poverty.
Being poor sucks. Being poor alone, with no IRL network where you exchange practical help needed in order to keep everyone afloat, is much worse. In that case, you have to beg for help from people who don't need you, who don't really trust you, and will give only the bare minimum needed to get you to leave them alone. And Polissa, because she only understands the "aid" part, and not the "mutual," has no IRL friends-and-neighbors network, so she's reduced to the occasional pity handout from family, raging about the inadequacy of her government tugboat, scolding her Twitter following for not giving her what she claims to need, and being a dismissive, ungrateful twat when they do.
Being poor sucks. Being poor when you're someone like Polissa has got to be hell. But it's one of her own making, so I can't feel too bad about it.
