Why The Hunger Challenge Hatred?
I'm not taking the United Way Hunger Challenge this year, the one where participants try to eat on the same amount of money that food stamp recipients receive. But I'm still taken aback at the vitriol Tracy is getting as she chronicles her experiences eating on $7/day.
It's true that, as I learned when I took the challenge a few years back, it's not terribly difficult -- that is, (and this is a crucial caveat), it's not terribly difficult for people like me, who have reliable transportation, time to shop for ingredients, decent supermarkets in the neighborhood, the knowledge and energy to cook at home, and the comfortable awareness that a bigger budget will resume at week's end. It wasn't a big deal to bake my own whole wheat bread or make a special trip to the Asian superstore to get a cheap whole fish. But the insults hurled in Tracy's post aren't, for the most part, saying that her experience doesn't match the difficulties many people face when living on food stamps. She's getting insulted for, say, buying steel-cut oats instead of rolled oats, even though the steel-cut ones are still just 25 cents per serving. She got a crack about "organic tofu" (which she didn't buy or talk about herself, but which, actually, costs less than most meats people mentioned cooking). She got derision for shopping at Trader Joe's, although, as CNN pointed out, that's a place where seniors on fixed incomes go for bargains. One commenter in one of my Hunger Challenge posts, who was on food stamps herself, wrote that "I used TJ’s before I went on foodstamps, and they’re saving my life now that I’m on this budget."
Sure, the hunger challenge isn't exact reality. Sure, some people live on the same budget without the aid of food stamps to get them there. But is that any reason to hurl insults instead of counting their blessings?
-- Rebekah Denn
Ryan on March 22, 2011 at 10:32 PM
What you don't understand is that some people have a vested interest in playing up victim hood. When someone proves that poor people in this country are not really that bad off, these people lose political leverage. So they lash out. First they call you stupid, "your doing it wrong" and "you don't understand how hard these victims have it." If you try to respond with logic and physical proof, they might even throw down their trump card, "racist." Even when they are the ones implying that poor people can't learn how to bake bread.
pj on March 22, 2011 at 11:12 PM
Actually, it's quite a bit simpler than that. Ms. Schneider's post made it to FARK, which is basically a giant blinking sign saying "TROLL ME." No sense in taking it personally. If nothing else, it's a great traffic driver.
London escorts on March 23, 2011 at 12:12 AM
My husband and I have not had a public fight in six years, until yesterday, when a bath of cream cheese has come between us. I guess that was the point of defiance.
London escorts on March 23, 2011 at 02:05 AM
My husband and I have not had a public fight for six years, until yesterday, when a bath of cream cheese has come between us. I guess that was the point of the challenge.
JonnyBear on March 23, 2011 at 08:48 AM
People are mean. They say mean things online that they wouldn't say publicly to strangers, and sometimes they say callous things to strangers that they wouldn't say publicly to their friends, and sometimes they alienate their friends by judging their decisions in a harsh way, then blame their friends for avoiding them because they can't handle "keeping it real". People are wretched. There should be a Civility Challenge, and the winner gets a few seasons of House.
Karla on March 23, 2011 at 09:37 AM
I won't even pretend that I have had it as bad as those caught in a cycle of poverty or those on the food stamp program. I do know that having to rely on unemployment checks for my weekly food shopping for almost two years can make you mightly humble and can force you to make some choices you never thought you'd have to make. Thank goodness for places like Trader Joes and Aldi where there are some organic and otherwise inexpensive choices (even if they might not always be politically correct). Sometimes it means that there might be meat when otherwise there would be none at all.
Quilly Mammoth on March 23, 2011 at 10:32 AM
Well, Rebekah, since you didn't actually bother to completely read the post with the crack about "organic tofu" let me clarify. The comment was intended to show that when you are on a food budget you can't make decisions on a whim and buy items that strike your fancy...like a rack of lamb for example. It wasn't an insult.
Menu planning is the main reason people rich or poor blow the food budget. For a person with means it's an inconvenience, for people with a fixed budget it is disastrous.
In that same post you picked out I mentioned how hard it is to live on the food allowance food stamps provide. So when you add the issues you bring up to the lack of education on how to budget and plan meals it is even harder.
When we do financial counseling food is one of the biggest budget busters. People make expensive, unhealthy choices. I would like to see social service groups put more emphasis on education about this subject since it is no longer fashionable to teach this essential life skill in school.
Rebekah Denn on March 23, 2011 at 11:03 AM
Quilly, thank you for clarifying. I read that as a crack that compared organic tofu with a rack of lamb -- that is, that both would be expensive extravagances. I completely agree with you that budgeting/meal planning in general is crucial, and I wish I did a better job of it myself. I don't think I would have taken that comment the same way if, for instance, it had read that you can't rush out and buy a pre-made deli platter or a rack of lamb.
Quilly Mammoth on March 23, 2011 at 12:03 PM
I see your point. The organic tofu is based on experience with my sister. We were out shopping and she was trying to do a complete weekly trip. One of the meals we were going to make was Grilled Tofu Satay. When given the choice between Soy Boy (16.99 lb) or NaSoya (3.99) she picks Soy Boy. Because "all her friends talk about it". She has the financial wherewithal to make that choice. But I see people who shouldn't...but do.
You can take just about any fried tofu dish and make it even healthier by roasting the strips instead of frying them in a wok. I will make a marinade of vinegar, oil an the spice I want to build around. Throw that in the frig in the morning, bake at night while I'm steaming veggies and rice. Less mess, more taste!
Steve on March 23, 2011 at 12:13 PM
It is propaganda. "Oh poor folks on food stamps you try and do it."
The fact of the matter is that probably 25% percent of the US population is matching this challenge and spending their own money. The folks that spend $35 on drinks and appetizers before dinner decide that more money has to be sent to the food stamp program. I don't begrudge folks their food stamps but don't expect me to feel guilty when they are spending more government money on their food than I am spending my own.
mrsizer on March 27, 2011 at 04:26 PM
Steve has it right. The point, such as it is, of this farce is not to emphasize how well we take care of the poor; it is to make everyone who can afford more feel guilty about it and increase the food stamp allowance.
I'm not one of those people (do they still exist beyond straw-men?) who believes that being poor is indicative of some sort of moral failing and that the poor should be punished - being poor is punishment, enough.
However, I see no reason to pay taxes so that other people can eat on a larger budget than I do.
That is the - well earned - source of the vitriol.
The Opinionator on March 27, 2011 at 07:18 PM
What these challenges often miss as well is the free and reduced cost school breakfast and lunch that many of the children in the food stamp program receive.
The Opinionator on March 27, 2011 at 07:18 PM
What these challenges often miss as well is the free and reduced cost school breakfast and lunch that many of the children in the food stamp program receive.