Food hunger in America: More Hype than Reality. Why?

daniel1212 ^ | Nov. 22, 2015 | daniel1212

[daniel1212]

Note that I am not against poor people, which the Scripture command to remember, and that we are to give according to the grace of God we have realized, without we could not even breath.

But which is that of helping those truly in need, out of compassion for the afflicted truly victimized, as well as mercy those who created their own mess, so that they may be motivated toward betterment and being a blessing themselves toward others, above all by turning to the Lord Jesus from sin, and becoming born again by faith in Him.

But which is not that of fostering a welfare state by seducing souls into a victim-entitlement mentality, that they are victims of a system that rewards merit, as instead of that, and charity from them, the victims have a right to the same benefits others earn, which is thus to be progressively taken from them.

This was essentially the psychology the devil worked to seduce Eve with, with the devil presenting himself as her advocate, to the end that by heeding her, the devil would gain power. Which is what he sought when he fell from grace, presuming by self will to ascend to God's throne.

Being cast down he seeks power by proxy, whether it be a Stalin presenting huimself as a savior from the capitalists, while in reality he and his puppets alone obtain the benefits he seduces the people with to gain power, or modern day liberal elites, who ultimately presume to dictatorships.

I got a bit carried away on that, yet the manufacturing of crises is instrumental for this and for liberals to obtain greater power, and or to justify themselves as morally superior due to the higher moral level which their alarm over such things as Climate Change and hunger exhibits, for which they obtain funds by deception and or at the expense of the public.

This does not mean there i am opposed to helping the poor, including with food, as one who would be considered poor myself, and who has lived, by God's grace, for 22 years (without gov. welfare) in a very low-income, multi-ethnic high population density Eastern city with one of the in the US. And who, thanks be to God, is blessed to be able to dispense (and eat some) privately donated surplus food, with prayer and gospel tracts.

About 28% of food in America is thrown away, and the Lord gathered up even the fragments that remained after feeding 5,000+ souls. (Jn. 6:1-13) And for that reason alone (no waste) food distribution should take place, as part of showing the grace of God. And there are some widows and poor people who are in need, yet American poverty is not that of the 3rd world, and in 1901 over 50%of household income was spent on food, as compared with les than 14% today. It is the cost of housing that has risen exponentially, partly due to increase in government.

But I am against characteristic exaggeration and misleading deception by certain propagandists who have made a business out of dealing with this largely manufactured crisis. As with "Climate Change," there is a lot of money in hyped alarminism, both in the degree such is increasingly occurring, if at all, and the detrimental effects.

Which are asserted with fervor by certain organizations seeking funding for feeding America and many supporters of such, even if done by a minority of charitable feeding organizations. See http://www.charitynavigator.org to research charities.

There is also the issue of increasing gov. control, and besides thing like banning large soda sales, as well as donated food from going to city missions (NYC), a bill was recently introduced which would ban smoking in all gov. subsidized housing nationwide. (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/nyregion/public-housing-nationwide-may-be-subject-to-smoking-ban.html?_r=0) While smoking is harmful and the intent may be good, once the government can do that then were would it end?

[rlmorel]

It is my opinion that we do not have any level of real malnutrition in this country.

We may have nutritionally deficient people who also happen to be poor, but I believe that would be due more to poor choices when using the resources provided to them to obtain food, rather than an insufficiency of resources.

Dinesh D’Souza, in his excellent book “What’s So Great About America” had a passage about a conversation he had with an acquaintance in Bombay who, when asked why he wanted to go to America, said: “I really want to move to a country where the poor people are fat.”

It is 100% undeniable truth that an American poverty is far, FAR different that an Indian, African, or just about any other kind of poverty, and not in a worse way.

[Rex Anderson]

Good article. Thanks for posting.

[RoosterRedux]

Most poor people in America are blubber-butts. They are poor spiritually, not financially.

They get lobster on their EBT cards. I eat beans while they are eating lobster.

But that's OK. I like beans.;-)

[rlmorel]

A typical (and I might add, Alinskyite) way of handling poverty for the left, is to simply re-define it to include more people. Or to define what hunger is.

They do it so they can spit out statistics to say things like “One quarter of all elementary school children go hungry every day” which means we need more money for school breakfast, school lunch, or school dinners for disadvantaged children.

This is their alternative to actually creating jobs that can be held by men and women who are part of families, which they are actively trying to destroy.

[A_perfect_lady]

Most of our “poor” are obese. This makes me pretty suspicious of their maudlin claims.

[goodnesswins]

Do they ask them when they last cooked rice and beans...from scratch?...or carrots?

[rlmorel]

I have posted this picture before: This supermarket is just two miles from my house (I have actually seen this very same picture posted in many threads and even on other web sites):

I understand most normal people would like to help out those less fortunate in some way, even to the point where I could even condone using tax dollars to help.

But what this sign implies shows that the system is so far out of whack that it should either be shut down completely or scaled back and restricted so dramatically that this sign would be completely unnecessary.

I would not have as much of a problem with using EBT to only purchase bread, eggs, butter, flour, cheese, milk, etc.

But to be able to use it to purchase steak, lobster, beer, cigarettes, and so on, is an insult and abomination.

[rlmorel]

I spent a very short time in India about 45 years ago as a kid...my dad walked us around New Delhi most of the night because we didn’t have a hotel room (to save money, we were coming home from an overseas posting).

I had lived in the Philippines and seen some degree of poverty, but nothing even remotely like what I saw that night.

And even back then, there was not that level of poverty ANYWHERE in this country.

As Americans, most of us have no idea what real poverty is. That is good, but it makes dishonest people (like liberals) attempt to drum up poverty any way they can...and they do.

[Organic Panic]

Walk through the poorest neighborhoods and you will see the fattest people you’ve ever seen.

[goodnesswins]

We have pizza places advertising EBT card acceptance...heck..
Don’t fast food places take them?

[PGR88]

I’m not against poor people either, but I HATE being propagandized and lied to.

I have stopped giving to charity - unless I know EXACTLY where my money is going. Is it even being used for good purposes? Food banks for already obese people, change at the super-market cash register, “Green” organizations collecting door-to-door - I will do NONE of it.

People in America are now ruled by emotion and superficiality, and lack wisdom.

[dsrtsage]

Isn’t the definition of poverty the bottom 15%? So mathematically 15% of the population will always be in poverty even if the poorest person of that 15% has a house made of solid gold and an army of 4000 servants

[PGR88]

As Americans, most of us have no idea what real poverty is.

I too have spent a lot of time overseas, China, Vietnam, India, SE Asia.

I agree with you 100% - Americans don't have a clue. I will only add the point - true poverty (as you saw in India) also is a result of extreme social, economic and political oppression, which Americans also can not fathom.

[Chode]

85% of those going to bed hungry are prolly children whose parents are too drunk or stoned to cook and feed them of expect them to feed themselves and if there isn't enough food on the house it's cause the money was spent on booze and drugs cause the hoodrat parents don't look like they've ever missed a meal and prolly ate the food intended for their children too

the other 15% are prolly older folk on fixed income that have to chose tween food and prescriptions

[mrsmith]

Food stamps is money that people spend on products that pay to advertise in the media.
So the media makes money by telling us we need a lot of food stamps.

In a ‘bread and circus’ the ‘circus’ is paid to support the ‘bread’. And the ‘bread’ is paid to support the ‘circus’.

[PCPOET7]

when I hear that a parent has to make the decision on whether to feed themselves so they have the strength to work or to feed there kids and not have the strength to work and not be able to feed there kids at all then I will believe someone is living in poverty. I am the poor in this country but I have never lived in what I call true poverty and I doubt most people in this country that are poor have lived in poverty.

[FlingWingFlyer]

The BLM Trump Heckler guy and the Trump Food Stamp guy are proof that it’s a myth.

[rlmorel]

"...true poverty (as you saw in India) also is a result of extreme social, economic and political oppression..."

Even I take that for granted and miss that point, which is an important one.

[rlmorel]

During the depression in this country, there were indeed people who made that choice, eat myself to keep up my strength to work, or let my growing kids eat.

As chode said in his post, I’ll bet there are some elderly who have to make the choice between food and meds.