this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2026
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Yeah. I completely agree in that you can blame the parents as much as you blame society or capitalism for the situation.
On a societal level he shouldn't have to fear for his life in this situation. On an individual level, this is the context we live in. If you stop enabling them you by default subject them to the un-enabled experience of the world. You can't force an adult to improve their lives or even get therapy or help. The expectation can't be "if your middle aged child refuses to get help you're stuck caring for them forever" that's an adverse incentive. At some point you have to stop enabling them and let them start taking care of their own life. In a better society we would have progressives and leftists in charge who could create a good social safety net that would help us all through these situations.
We don't even know if OOP refused to work, or couldn't work. There are lots of conditions that make it literally impossible to work a job, no matter how much you "apply yourself" or how much effort you put in.
Either he CAN do something and he doesn't want to. Or he can't do ANYTHING and should apply for disability benefits. Every decent country has a program for severely disabled citizens.
I doubt this fictional tale is likely as written in a story without disability benefits.
We're still talking about the US, right? Lots of people fall through the cracks because their issues don't get recognized as a "real" disability, this is true even for countries with more comprehensive social security systems.