Attacking the poor, fat is easy and ignorant
BERNICE LARSEN; Puyallup
Re: “Obama must offer example, solutions for obesity plague” (Morton Kondracke column, 1-1).
The columnist’s solution is to make being fat socially unacceptable – a simple, ignorant solution to a multifaceted problem. Unmanageable stress leads to drugs, alcoholism and obesity. It is noted that the poor are more likely to be fat than other monetary classes. Gee, I wonder why? Maybe being poor is a massive stress producer. I’ve got news for Kondracke: the poor and the fat are already discriminated in job hiring and social acceptance and it hasn’t seemed to solve the problem.
I’m poor. Fruits and veggies are expensive, and I get damn few of them. Carbohydrates are much cheaper and a major player in diabetes. And how about all that sugar, chemicals and hormones in our foods put there for increase of profits? God forbid that we should think capitalism might have a negative side.
Cook, you say? With two part-time jobs that do not cover basic living expenses (another one of the sources of stress), a house to keep clean, a heart patient to care for and the use of buses for transportation, the time and energy doesn’t exist for scratch cooking.
I’ve got news for the well-off: the social safety net you think exists because you’ve not had to use it is in tatters.
Kondracke’s ignorance and prejudice is showing. How about becoming part of the solution in a healthy manner instead of part of the problem?
