Conservatives & Poor People Don't Want Healthier Food
Someone is stirring up class warfare -- and it's over food. Weeks ago Sarah Palin protested against Michelle Obama's Let's Move healthier foods initiative by handing out cupcakes at a school (except she did it at a private school, oops). She's made a few more jabs on her reality show.
Meanwhile, Glenn Beck mocked the First Lady at a rally, sneering, "Get away from my French fries, Mrs. Obama. First politician that comes up to me with a carrot stick, I've got a place for it. And it's not in my tummy."
The message I'm hearing is: Real America loves its fast food. I have the right to send my kid to school with Ho Hos and soda in his lunch. Only preachy eee-leets make food a moral issue, those smug upper-middle-class soccer moms in yoga pants stuffing their Priuses with organic kale from Whole Foods.
Why are these conservative pundits so defensive about protecting fast food? Have they seen the diabetes map?
Slate.com created a map that shows the rates of diabetes nationally over four years. Check out what's happening south of the Mason-Dixon line. Yikes, conservative-leaning South! Y'all are killin' yourselves.
And while you're shouting about the intrusiveness of government when the nation decides it's time federally funded schools stop serving kids total crap, how about them subsidies?
What's that? I didn't hear you.
I'm talking at least $56 billion in subsidies going to corn crops -- and not the kind of corn you can just steam and eat -- commodity corn that gets turned into all kinds of fast foods and processed foods, including Glenn Beck's precious French fries. So why aren't conservatives up in arms over this huge government expense?
But it's not just conservatives who are fueling the class warfare. Those white, upper-middle-class liberal eee-leets can be just as ignorant. I was telling a friend of mine about how crummy the grocery stores are in an un-fancy Brooklyn neighborhood and she said, "Oh, but those people don't really want healthy food anyway. I mean, there's not much demand, right?" And when I brought up improving school food to another white, UMC friend, she dismissed it as something the educated classes are imposing on the poor because poor people don't really care about healthy food.
Okay, maybe you're thinking I need to get some new friends. But the stark, painful truth is times are tough, healthy, pesticide-free food is expensive, people are getting sicker, and still, we would rather cheer on Palin's cupcake stunt than face our unjust food system.
Is eating fresh, healthy, pesticide-free food really something only rich liberals want? Are we going to keep arguing about big government and killing ourselves with obesity-related illnesses or are we ever going to get real about food, together?
Do you think our food system is at a crisis point?
Image via t-dubisme/Flickr
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Anon
ELIZABETHSMO902
Its not that poor people dont want to be healthy ,its that they cant afford to buy healthy food ....processed food in a box can last for months and only cost between 50Cents -$2 .....A bag of apples cost 5 dollars and last maybe 4 days maybe longer ......
nagyordog
Healthy food does cost more; however, in this country I think it's more about education then cost. There are poor people around the world who don't eat processed crap. Another reason is LAZYNESS, there is a lot more work and planning when it comes to cooking healthier.
Ashley Castillo
It is so easy to see the differences in the quality of the food here at the grocery stores in Austin. HEB (the most prevalent grocery store) has locations in all parts of the city, and it is apparent which ones are in the nice neighborhoods. I swear, the one in Circle C had foods I'd never seen before. It is huge. The one off of Riverside, in the poorer neighborhood, has nowhere near the selection. Unsurprisingly, the difference most comes through in their produce section.
Anon
micheledo
I'm a conservative and I have NO problem with schools switching to healthy food. My issue is with the government mandating it. I would MUCH rather see local parents petitioning their own school, and their own school making a switch to better, healthy food. Change your community for you and your neighbors!! I could get excited and involved in that. But I don't want the government stepping in and making it a law. (Now if I could only find the article about how much more money is spent when the government gets involved as opposed to it being done privately/locally)
micheledo
I just have to add this - I am SO tired of tired of the argument that eating healthy is too expensive for poor people. It really isn't. You just have to learn how to shop, cook, and use coupons. A bag of rice is $2 and a processed box of rice-a-roni whatever is $1 on sale. You will get at least 5 times as much rice out of the bag then the processed junk.
People in my area that get food stamps get a TON more then I have ever spent on groceries for a family of 6. I have seen posts in the Answers section of CM where moms have shared how much they get on food stamps. It is PLENTY. But it takes time to look for deals, shop clearance, cut coupons, and cook from scratch. Last year I fed my family of 6 on $40 a week for about 4 months. That is all we had. I bought fresh produce, dairy, and beans/rice, and a little meat. We ate healthy on very little.
People just don't take the time to learn how to live well on very little. (rant over)
MammaG
The bottom line is EDUCATION. Poor people don't seem to care because they don't know how to take care of themselves. Poor people aren't educated in how to stop having kids so they don't continue to be poor. Those poor children are not educated in how to avoid pregnancy and the cycle continues. My ignorant parents were uneducated and could not afford one child, much less the seven they had. Their blind faith in the church and ignorance of contraception made them poor and miserable their whole lives. Fortunately my generation of siblings and I are breaking the cycle. We have only one child because that's what WE want and can afford. She is the only grandchild and she will have college education and know all about contraception. No one will turn her into a baby-making machine.
LittleManMama
Lynette
I am very much a conservative politically. I vote republican. We do organic for what we can afford and the rest I stick to whole foods. junk food and processed food rarely enter my home. Many of my conservative friends are like me. stereotypes don't fit all