P-R-I-V-I-L-E-G-E spells privilege

[malakijr]

I was talking with a girl from work today and she was going on about how poor people should feed their kids healthy food like fruits and vegetables and their kids would be healthier and not need health care. So I mentioned that fresh fruits and vegetables were MORE EXPENSIVE and most parents would love to be able to give these things to their kids

Comments

deth

[malakijr]

Oh no, according to this girl, she eats healthy and that's why she's almost never sick and why she's almost never been sick her whole life (and I want to inject her with some staph bacteria or something because SRSLY I'm sick now...sick of HEARING THIS) and people in this country eat crap and that's why they're unhealthy (and everyone has money to go to the doctor when they're sick, I'm just LYING about not having money to go to the doctor) and poor people NEED TO REALIZE (yes, she said NEED TO REALIZE) that if they fed their children healthy foods, the rate of disease and illness would go down because tomatoes really DO prevent the common cold. YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW. YOU DON'T EVEN KNOOOOOOWWW.

I want to set my own face on fire because it would be less painful than thinking about this conversation. I fucking HATE IT when I try to explain how poor we were when I was a kid and people interrupt me with "ZOMG I was poor too, our car" STOP RIGHT THERE!!!!!!!! WE NEVER HAD MONEY TO HAVE A CAR AND MY MOM COULDN'T DRIVE IT FOR THE SAME REASON I CAN'T BECAUSE OF HER CARPAL TUNNEL AND HER DISORIENTATION/LACK OF SPATIAL COORDINATION WHICH IS A DISORDER I DID NOT GET FROM EATING HOT DOGS AND MACARONI AND CHEESE AND MUSTARD SANDWICHES YOU STUPID FUCK. I hate it when people act like it's a contest (my life was totes worse than yours, omg) or like I'm "making excuses" for myself. Excuse the fucxk out of me? I don't have to EXCUSE anything to you, I don't fucking answer to your ass.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to cry and shove a mustard sandwich down her throat until she chokes because anyone who thinks poor people choose to not have enough money to buy both toilet paper and food in the same week deserves to choke to death on mustard and white bread.

Re: deth

[peskipiksi]

Waaay too many healthy people think (a) they will always be healthy and (b) they are healthy by their own power. SO NOT TRUE.

"Poor people need to realize" is a whole nother rant. Because, um, POOR PEOPLE ARE NOT STUPID. In fact, they probably realize a WHOLE SHITLOAD of things better than non-poor people. Like how IF THEY HAD MONEY, they could maybe feed their kids MORE FOOD. And how they could also take their kids to the doctor, you know, IF THEY HAD MONEY. I'm pretty sure the connection between Things Needed to Survive and Money is exceptionally clear to people who STRUGGLE WITH IT EVERY DAY.

Re: deth

[peskipiksi]

Non-rant version:

This. We were, and I remain, "poor" in the sense of "only have enough to meet my needs." Far too many people are "poor" in the sense of "don't even have enough to meet their needs." And lately, I've been feeling srsly rich - when I consider all the difficult choices I *don't* have to make. (I am indulging in food AND heat AND electricity AND Internet AND healthcare AND clean clothes AND not-getting-rained-on all at the same time RIGHT THIS SECOND. That right there makes me one majorly rich mofo.)

I think my law school classmate's problem, at least, was that he thought only the me-type "poor" were left in America, not (far too many of) the "making tough decisions"-type poor. It makes a twisted sense to say something like "poor people need to eat better" when your only frame of reference is "choose crappy food or choose healthy food," not "choose any food or choose starvation." (Or "food versus healthcare," "food versus heat," etc. ad nauseaum.) Doesn't make it *right*, of course....

It's infuriating that people can be that stupid, but more than that, it's terrifying.