poor, poverty, entitlements, welfare, food stamps,
I learned something yesterday. If you want some anonymous trolls to come by and shit all over your comments section, suggest systemic governmental help for the poor. Because nothing sets off a wingnut like the knowledge that poor children are eating on his dime.
I can post endlessly about the nonexistence of god and the lie that is religion and nobody bats an eyelash. Racism? Boooooring. Sexism? Who cares? Governmental help for poor children? HOW DARE YoU STEeL MAI MOnEEZ, YOU sELF RigTEOUs LIBERAl BITCH!!!!!1!!eleventy!!!! NAZIS WERE SOCIALISTS AND I WORK AT SOUP KITCHENS* AND IT'S MINE, MIIIIIIIIINE!!!ONE!!!!
Okay, shouty trolls, I know I should not speak directly to you unless I am wearing a garland of garlic and have doused myself in pinot grigio first, but seriously, you don't see anything wrong with the fact that you're this upset about your money being used to feed poor children? You never get done foaming at the mouth about baby feeding facists, accidentally catch a glimpse of your reflection in the TV and think, "Wow, where are my priorities? I'm totally okay with funding wars on brown people, but I'm this angry about poor children eating more or less nutritious meals paid for with a very small portion of my taxes**?"
Really? I mean, do you get equally foamy about the lips when you're driving down the streets and realize that you are driving on roads paid for with your taxes, and maybe you don't want to maintain those roads? Maybe you like offroading to work, and fuck those of us who don't. Do you risk seizures when you use your cell phone and realize that the FCC regulates the airwaves so that you aren't calling your wife on the same frequency the firefighters down the street are trying to use? Do you have heart attacks from sheer rage when you eat meat and don't succumb to e coli or salmonella because of USDA regulation?
Yeah, probably not.
So why does the thought of a poor child with a full belly make you so very, very angry?
Just askin'.
*I am officially invoking pics or it didn't happen.
**Entitlements, all of them, are about 2% of the federal budget. To put that in perspective, military spending is, according to the government, 20% of the budget.
So why does the thought of a poor child with a full belly make you so very, very angry?
ReplyDeleteEspecially when it's more like "a somewhat less empty belly" than "a full belly."
One of the interesting things growing up in Chicago was snow days. If there was a bad storm we'd sit by the radio and listen to the school closure announcements on WGN, waiting to hear the name of our school. It would often be called. We were also in a wealthy, primarily white suburb.
Chicago Public Schools never, ever closed. I believe that they had "optional attendance," but they never closed. The reason was simple: for some kids going to school was the only warmth they would receive that day. The school lunch was the only food they'd receive that day.
I think that there was probably a point when I felt sorry for the CPS kids because they couldn't stay home and play. I've since realized that the way I thought about that was completely wrong.
It's too bad there are so many people out there who aren't any smarter than I was as a sheltered, suburban grade schooler.
Oh, deity-or-other-dramatic-invocation-of-your-choice. Now you've done it. Now we'll get to hear all about how taxation is theft, and personal responsibility is soooooo important, and the only legitimate use of government is to protect people. (These points will likely be delivered with the implicit understanding that collective responsibility is a self-contradictory concept, and keeping people from going hungry - or hungrier - is completely different from protecting people in all possible ways. Oh, and trying to help people makes them weak.)
ReplyDeleteOh, and trying to help people makes them weak.
ReplyDeleteJesus never helped anyone and always preached about the importance of saving for that leprosy medications, so fair's fair.
I just read the comments section, too funny! I like how everyone can come together and have fun with it though. You write a great blog here.
ReplyDeleteThis tells a lot about these people.
ReplyDeleteWhat they don't seem to realise is that these tax payer funded programs (nutritional programs, shoes for the poor especially in the rural south, eye screening)had a very practical hard nosed origin. I was a kid myself when they were started up.
This wasn't for altruistic reasons or the love of humanity as your interlocutors darkly suspect and bray from their filthy, stupid mouths. Not even close.
During WWII and Korea the initial rejection rate for induction (draft and enlistment) was over 25% mainly because of difficulties due to poor nutrition during 'the depression'. Hook worm (in the south) and eye problems like trachoma (sp?) were also big factors, and these and other "entitlement" programs were instituted to keep that from happeneing again.
It's in the public record, it was merely fertilizer for raising gun fodder, although they phrased it much more elegantly.
Sarge, that's really interesting. Thanks for the info!
ReplyDeleteInteresting indeed, Sarge. My cynicism about our government just grows by leaps and bounds lately.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, great discussion.
have enjoyed following your blog, I won't flaunt my personal religious beliefs, but re: the sassy comments left by others..............
ReplyDeleteIt is a virus, I am a successful woman in a man's field and have been for 30 years, my hubby loves me for it.
The harder times and the economy get, the more people are put within their own pressure cooker, and walk around being negative, spewing krap all over the innocent and precious few good people amongst the many that aren't.
Keep your blog going and shake off the krap others throw at you, I'll love your blog even more :) :)