Here we go with the stereotyping again. The point you make has validity, but I simply cannot get behind it for the amount of stereotyping you are doing of the poor.
You are subscribing to the all-too-common "poor people with big screens and iPhones? What's that all about?" fallacy, except you ascribe even more universality to it than most.
> "People prefer spending their money on vacation, video games, buying the latest smartphone and so on"
This is a stereotype, unless you have convincing data to back it up. It is also about as offensive and useful as "black people! fried chicken! watermelons!"
See how far the conversation gets when this happens?
The "poor people are poor because they waste their money on lavish stupid spending" is a refrain we've heard way too many times. It's simply not true, fails to comprehend the complexity of the situation, and is frankly a complete moral cop-out.
I've had the fortunate/unfortunate experience of living on the wrong side of the tracks for part of my college years. I've lived with and befriended many of the people we upper-middles love to stereotype, victim-blame, and mock, and while there's always a sliver of truth to every stereotype, the characterization that the poor are poor, or that the poor are fat, because they're too stupid to act responsibly, is a pernicious and toxic lie.
Let's enumerate, for the record. You seem to believe that the poor:
- Spend their money on vacation, video games, and the latest smartphones instead of being smart about their finances.
- Need to watch 4 hours of "dumb TV shows" every night to be satisfied with their (presumably pathetic and meaningless) lives.
I honestly don't think we can have a discussion about the broader point of diet/obesity while you're chiseling at these points.
> "You cannot seriously tell me that 33% of the US is composed of poor people living in crime-ridden suburbs."
Have you been to the US lately? Despite what you might see in major cities or in the Valley, the majority of this country is poor as fuck. The notion that the vast majority of America enjoys a standard of living lightyears ahead of the rest of the world... is simply not true. Fully 42% of this country has an annual income of under $25,000.
The obesity epidemic in the USA is at its core tied to socioeconomic status. Hell, the fact that state-by-state obesity rates is highly correlated with state economic strength should be very telling.
> The obesity epidemic in the USA is at its core tied to socioeconomic status. Hell, the fact that state-by-state obesity rates is highly correlated with state economic strength should be very telling.
Quote: "Among men, obesity rates were fairly similar across income groups, although they tended to be slightly higher at higher levels of income. In fact, among Black and Mexican-American men, those with higher income were significantly more likely to be obese than those with low-income."
Shocking, it says the exact opposite of what you were trying to prove. So there actually ARE people with higher income who are obese, it seems.
You are subscribing to the all-too-common "poor people with big screens and iPhones? What's that all about?" fallacy, except you ascribe even more universality to it than most.
> "People prefer spending their money on vacation, video games, buying the latest smartphone and so on"
This is a stereotype, unless you have convincing data to back it up. It is also about as offensive and useful as "black people! fried chicken! watermelons!"
See how far the conversation gets when this happens?
The "poor people are poor because they waste their money on lavish stupid spending" is a refrain we've heard way too many times. It's simply not true, fails to comprehend the complexity of the situation, and is frankly a complete moral cop-out.
I've had the fortunate/unfortunate experience of living on the wrong side of the tracks for part of my college years. I've lived with and befriended many of the people we upper-middles love to stereotype, victim-blame, and mock, and while there's always a sliver of truth to every stereotype, the characterization that the poor are poor, or that the poor are fat, because they're too stupid to act responsibly, is a pernicious and toxic lie.
Let's enumerate, for the record. You seem to believe that the poor:
- Spend their money on vacation, video games, and the latest smartphones instead of being smart about their finances.
- Need to watch 4 hours of "dumb TV shows" every night to be satisfied with their (presumably pathetic and meaningless) lives.
I honestly don't think we can have a discussion about the broader point of diet/obesity while you're chiseling at these points.
> "You cannot seriously tell me that 33% of the US is composed of poor people living in crime-ridden suburbs."
Have you been to the US lately? Despite what you might see in major cities or in the Valley, the majority of this country is poor as fuck. The notion that the vast majority of America enjoys a standard of living lightyears ahead of the rest of the world... is simply not true. Fully 42% of this country has an annual income of under $25,000.
The obesity epidemic in the USA is at its core tied to socioeconomic status. Hell, the fact that state-by-state obesity rates is highly correlated with state economic strength should be very telling.