I’m upset this story has been circulated throughout the press…
The biggest flaw in western culture is that we never target the actual cause of a problem. We only address the symptoms and expect to create cures. Why else do we have millions of medicines? Each is created to target a symptom of an affliction. Heaven forbid we should actually cure a disease. There’s no profit in that. Curing people of what ails them reeks of socialism. Giving folks a pill to stop their runny nose is called capitalism. That pill will stop the post-nasal drip but the side effects are erectile dysfunction. No worries because you can buy a pill for that too. The side effects of the second pill are blindness.
We don’t have a pill for that.
Yet.
Candy and its sweet goodness does not make for criminals, but living in poverty does. And living in poverty usually means that you make the decisions you are socio-economically programmed to make. If the bodega on the corner even sold fresh apples you wouldn’t buy one because for the same cost as the apple you could purchase a bag of potato chips and a package of apple flavored Now-n-Laters. Sure, everyone is personally responsible for the choices they make in the bodega (I’m agreeing with the respectable negroes here) but from the standpoint of value perception: one bag of salt and vinegar chips x a pack of Now-n-Laters x one quarter water >>> two(2) apples.
The problem is STILL poverty. Not the candy, not the sugar, not the poor dietary choices. Those are the symptoms of poverty. Until we address the real inequities in how we educate people, in how we train them to be viable in society and in how we provide those opportunities to manifest the prior vocational info people will continue to have candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Scientists will continue to have their shoddy studies touted as proof positive and the Chicago’s of the western world will slowly become bereft of Chico Stixx. One can only hope that DERRION ALBERT at least had the chance to enjoy one final box of Lemonheads before his demise from the side effects of poverty.
Hey…a pack of now and laters never made me shoot anyone.
On the flipside candy got Lamar Odom an NBA title and a Kardazzzzian sister.
My man David Seaton, an excellent dystopian blogger who I think you’d like…: http://seaton-newslinks.blogspot.com/
…Wrote about a new piece by Bernard Avishai, the editor of the Harvard Business Review…: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Avishai
…That ignited a firestorm in the Talking Points Memo comments: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/29/unemployment_or_unemployability_a_story/
Basically Avishai shitted on MIDDLE class Americans whose future prospects are grim at even THEIR level of education…:
“…it was not hard to imagine what became of car mechanics who, unlike Dave, were not prepared to hold up their end of the deal. You ran into many such people in rural New Hampshire: not-quite-enough schooling, too much beer, too much TV.”
…and the TPM commenters responded with much the same frustration as yours, only on behalf of yet another swathe of American society! The hunger for better education in this country is IMMENSE…as immense as the hunger for social justice. Something big is brewing!
Dp!
I have this extremely ghetto cousin, the type that now as a grown women is extra uppity as a result from dire poverty as a child.
Anyways…
When we were younger, she was real sick, so I called her to make sure she didn’t need anything. I’m telling her all the shit I’m supposed to; “feel better, get rest, eat soup, fruits & vegetables”, etc. I said “& make sure you drink plenty of juice”…..
Bitch tells me, “yeah, I got some Kool Aid right now”, & burps. & she was dead-ass.
Correlation doesn’t imply causation. I feel this study is flawed…