Mississippi bill would force food stamp users to eat healthy

5th February 2012

Link reblogged from new wave feminism with 86 notes

Mississippi bill would force food stamp users to eat healthy →

From the article:

“I’m not trying to be punitive to these recipients,” Stone said. “But my intent is to keep families from wasting their benefits. I’m going after foods that are obviously detrimental to children’s health.”

Proponents of Stone’s measure said Stone is on the right track because for the last eight years, Mississippi has consistently held the title as the nation’s ‘fattest state’. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said in 2010, 34 percent of Mississippians were overweight, while a staggering 44.5 percent of children in the state were considered obese. Again, the highest ranking in the nation.

“We can’t spell out everything in the law,” Stone said. “When we see parents buying all of this junk food, you wonder what their children are eating. They’re going without bacon and eggs, good food that’s nutritious.”

I wonder when people are going to consider that nutrition and access to healthy foods and “healthy” lifestyles are a CLASS & segregation issue? I find the rhetoric that is used when talking about the poor and nutrition very strange… We segregate the poor & working class into these food deserts and close them off into these communities with little access to fresh produce and food that is affordable. So we ignore the poor ever single day of the year, and then all of a sudden think we’re helping by taking junk food away from families on food stamps. America is the worst at actually solving problems. Everything’s a publicity stunt these days…

This is what I imagine the people of mississippi say to themselves every morning:

“What’s wrong up the poor in this state? why don’t they eat fresh papaya and greek yogurt like I do every day? They’re so pathological and self destructive… lets pass paternalistic measures to pretend like we did something so we can go back to ignoring the real issue of resource allocation.”

This was actually a quote in the article:

“I was behind this lady with a shopping basket loaded with sugary drinks, potato chips, cookies and candy,” Stone said. “She had nothing of any nutritional value in her cart and when it came time for her to pay, she pulled out her EBT card and paid for it. There was no breakfast cereal, no meats, nothing but pure junk. And I thought to myself, ‘we should not be paying for this junk.’ We should be providing nutrition to sustain children. She’s an adult. What she puts in her own body is her own business. But it’s not acceptable for the children.”

I’m glad we allow people to think its justifiable to pull so much generalizations about a person and their character based solely on the fact that they bought junk food and are on food stamps. I love the idea of being judged by random nosey people whenever I make a purchase at walmart…

got into an argument with a friend the other day about exactly this.

Source: newwavefeminism

the jolly cynic

Mississippi bill would force food stamp users to eat healthy →