LMAO... so privileged? Give me a fucking break... how many times do we see politicians telling us how hard it is to live off $3 a day, that poor people can't eat well because they can only afford processed foods, etc... It is a mantra from the left. But I am more than willing to listen to why you think it was clueless and privileged.
I think it is clueless and privileged for quite a few reasons. Let me go into detail on two of these reasons; labor and pleasure.
Let's start with labor. I have seen many lecturing imaginary single mothers, or even married mothers, about how easy it is to make cheap healthy dinners for their kids. Now let's say that woman works an exhausting job, as many do. She gets up early in the morning, she gets her kids ready for school, then she has to get to work. Now she's poor, because we are talking about the poor here. So how does she get to work? She might walk to work, she might take a bus to work. She might take another form of mass transit to work. She does not sit her ass down in her heated/air conditioned car with satelitte radio and turn on the all Elvis station so she can relax (did you know there is an all Elvis station? I just found out, and I secretly find Elvis very relaxing). No, it's work for her to get to work. It's work for her to get back home at night. When she is at work, is she sitting relaxed in her own office? Nope. Let's say she works in a factory, she is on her feet all day. That's exhausting.
So then she comes home and she can make a box of macaroni and cheese, or buy some cheap shit from the dollar menu, or she can cook a healthy meal. I suppose this healthy meal, in order to be "cheap" would have to include canned vegetables and some sort of cheap protein, let's say rice and beans. But it's not going to be boxed rice and beans; that's not cost effective. So she is going to have to prepare those beans, soak them, rinse them, then cook them. She will also have to cook the rice, and it's not going to be instant rice because that's not cost effective. She has to do this every single night, exhausted from her commute and her job, and taking care of her kids. And she is not going to eat and serve rice and beans every night.
Now let's say she works two jobs. Uh huh.
The second reason; pleasure.
Many of us take pleasure for granted. I know I get a lot of pleasure out of shopping, out of acquiring things. I get pleasure out of going to see films. I get pleasure out of going to museums. I get pleasure out of going to plays. I get pleasure out of redecorating, and I mean as simply as changing over from winter to spring.
Now let's say you're poor. Are the pleasures available to you considerably more restricted? Just as my pleasures do not include hopping on my private jet to Venice when I am in the mood for Italian food? Of course they are.
And what is one of life's simple, and cheapest pleasures?
Junk food. A candy bar. And though especially in light of the recent burger king thing (BTW, how do you meat eaters feel about that?? I honestly do not know how you all don't throw up) this makes me sick to contemplate, and is beyond any experience of mine, but importantly,
not beyond my understanding, , fast food is a cheap pleasure. When you are exhausted after a long day, longer than many of us know, and you have very little money, being able to fill up cheaply on what to you is a delicious double cheesburger, large fries, and a sugary soft drink, is a pleasure. Most importantly, it's a pleasure you can afford.
People with disposable income can afford to put off instant gratification. It's easy. If I don't eat that I can wear that fabulous dress that I can afford. I want to go on vacation and look good and feel good. I am entering a marathon. I bought a new bike...etc etc ect. The sacrifice of instant gratification is not as difficult.
Everyone deserves pleasure. Everyone needs pleasure. Everyone will pursue pleasure...whichever pleasures are within their grasp.
