Breathe, she said through clenched teeth

[miss_lucy21]

The internet is riling me up terribly over the past week. First, there is the SNAP Challenge that Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker is participating in. Now, Cory Booker seems like a decent guy from what I've read. And while he comes from an affluent background, he's done a lot of advocacy work in his career and he seems to "get it" when it comes to poverty. So, he's the kind of person I think will do a good job with this sort of challenge- he'll do it legit, in other words. But I am so, so wary of these sorts of things. This article gives a very good explanation as to why these kind of things bug me. But the real issue is the overwhelming number of comments on people on food stamps/SNAP or who receive benefits that demonstrate that the people making the comments have either 1) never struggled for anything in their life or 2) have no conception of how easy it is to be in need of assistance. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I would never consider myself "poor". Broke, yes, God, yes. But, I come from a relatively affluent family who are capable of providing me with a significant safety net. They are the reason why I'm not currently on public assistance, although I would qualify based on my current income. But I was on SNAP for about a year at one point. And I do currently get private assistance for some of my medication and I'm on a hardship forbearance for my student loans (which does sort of qualify as public assistance in a sense, because my loans are all federal loans). So, you could say that I have some direct experience with the concept. And even with my limited experience, I feel like these kind of challenges are often condescending. It's like, oh, someone who's not on assistance is saying this is difficult, so, therefore it must be difficult. Like, you couldn't just believe someone who is on assistance when they say it's hard? It's annoying and it's oppressive to not legitimize people's own lived experience.

So, there's that. Then, today, I come across this article about The Biggest Loser putting kids on the next season. And that was the moment that my head exploded. I have ethical and philosophical objections to The Biggest Loser in the first place. I think it's abusive and encourages disordered eating and exercise patterns and it objectifies fat people in a way that encourages stigma and body hatred. But, those are adults. They're in charge of their own bodies and furthermore, they're done growing. I have a problem with putting minor children in a situation like this, given that they're not done growing and they don't necessarily have the experience and capacity to make an informed decision. And furthermore, what the hell are their parents thinking? Seriously, how is this not abusive?

This is not to mention you know, the basic news and politics that generally puts my shoulders around my ears. I suspect the only thing for it is to just not read anything that's not, like, fluffy fic and things about kittens.

Comments

[hagar_972]

*offers military llamas*

[miss_lucy21]

Oh, goodness. Yes, that helped immensely, thank you!