Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, September 25, 2012
2012 / Chow America's Children Beg for More Food Via Song
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 4:00 PM
Conservative sites are passing this video around like it's chlamydia:
And the thing is, I think school lunches could become a major conservative talking point, á la Joe the Plumber. It's got everything an election-year issue would need: Distrust of Michelle Obama, distaste for government regulations, and children, so Republicans can pretend to care about education. I wouldn't be surprised if Fox News picked this video up and ran with it.
1
You are subjecting yourself to torture watching this crap. At the same time, as a Stranger reader from way back in the day, I've got to say that the political coverage has never been so good. Once this whole election mess is over, I propose sending you on a long overdue vacation to a beautiful island with an incredible library, no internet and no Americans.
2
Let 'em bring it.
1) An 850 calorie lunch with an 850 calorie breakfast and an 850 calorie dinner, along with 2 snacks in the day at 400 calories each, would be 3450 calories. Hardly starving.
2) Find me where anyone suggests 2000-5000 calories. Most of what I see out there on the web states maybe up to 2500 for active teens. Again, there's no case that an 850 calorie lunch is "low."
3) The meme that kids in America are starving? Right. Good luck with that.
1) An 850 calorie lunch with an 850 calorie breakfast and an 850 calorie dinner, along with 2 snacks in the day at 400 calories each, would be 3450 calories. Hardly starving.
2) Find me where anyone suggests 2000-5000 calories. Most of what I see out there on the web states maybe up to 2500 for active teens. Again, there's no case that an 850 calorie lunch is "low."
3) The meme that kids in America are starving? Right. Good luck with that.
3
Truly bizarre. From the opening title text (are they really slipping that math past anyone?), to the role government should play in kids' lives doesn't seem remotely in tune with this videos target audience.
5
Hmmmm.... That was not at all what I expected. I assumed that it would whine about how we're spending too much gubbmin money feeding those damn poor kids and they should go get some damn jobs because nobody gets a free lunch golldurnit!
I am confused and perplexed.
I am confused and perplexed.
7
These children are not starving. They can have as much fruit as they want. Anyone who starves to death sitting next to a bin full of apples is just being an asshole.
8
@2 -- Hear, hear!
@4 -- Athletes do, indeed, eat like it's going out of style. Most teens are *not* athletes, and a 750-850 calorie lunch is more than adequate, as long as they're eating breakfast and dinner.
@4 -- Athletes do, indeed, eat like it's going out of style. Most teens are *not* athletes, and a 750-850 calorie lunch is more than adequate, as long as they're eating breakfast and dinner.
10
Never mind that I hate that damn song. I thought the video was pretty funny, at least at times, although having the little kids crawling on the grounds was a little too much.
But here's my question: How did they get students and faculty to involve themselves in a political ad? Did they know what they were supporting? I, myself, had never heard of this Healthy Lunches thing until this post.
As for all political ads, I bring a full tank of skepticism.
But here's my question: How did they get students and faculty to involve themselves in a political ad? Did they know what they were supporting? I, myself, had never heard of this Healthy Lunches thing until this post.
As for all political ads, I bring a full tank of skepticism.
11
Yes, how can we be having both an obesity crises and a starvation crises?
Is the Heating causing the Cooling again?
12
Middle class white kids in nice schools fainting from hunger, or being forced to resort to eating...Doritos????
Where do I send my donation to the Starving White Middle Class Children Fund? My check book is open.
[P.S. "Passing this video around like it's chlamydia..." Another zinger for you, Paul.]
Where do I send my donation to the Starving White Middle Class Children Fund? My check book is open.
[P.S. "Passing this video around like it's chlamydia..." Another zinger for you, Paul.]
13
Wait...I just watched this again (at least the first 30 seconds, which was all I could stand). I think we've been duped. It's a parody.
15
There's no way that school lunch program can become a big GOP talking point. It's run by the USDA, and it's profoundly committed to purchasing Big Ag commodity products. Unless Big Ag is no longer a political player for the Republicans, nobody's going to want to bring much scrutiny to school lunches.
The HealthyUS school program is interesting, there are some really minimal ideas about better nutrition and fitness that it's encouraging, not forcing, schools to incorporate. Around here, the Highline school district is doing the best in getting in line with the suggestions, and that district is over 70% free/reduced lunch program kids.
The HealthyUS school program is interesting, there are some really minimal ideas about better nutrition and fitness that it's encouraging, not forcing, schools to incorporate. Around here, the Highline school district is doing the best in getting in line with the suggestions, and that district is over 70% free/reduced lunch program kids.
17
Okay, so the kid is complaining that the school lunch program doesn't provide him with the nutritionally empty yet nutritionally dangerous calories of the junk food that his friends are buying at the corner store, and the intro is complaining that school lunches don't provide an entire day's calories for each student. This video is a cry for help for a problem that doesn't exist (unless Conservatives genuinely believe that children are entitled to more government-subsidized junk food than they're already receiving in most school cafeterias).
18
@2: The place they site (http://kidshealth.org/) has an article that says "Depending on how active they are, teen athletes may need anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 total calories per day to meet their energy needs"
The opening of the video conveniently leaves out the athlete part and simply states "active teens require between 2000-5000 calories a day."
The opening of the video conveniently leaves out the athlete part and simply states "active teens require between 2000-5000 calories a day."
19
I got to the part where the bully was taking his bread and I'd had enough.
It's just so unfair we can't have pizza dipped in ranch dressing for lunch at school! Holy shit, nazi chinese russia! Thanks a lot Hitler-michelle Obamastalin!
It's just so unfair we can't have pizza dipped in ranch dressing for lunch at school! Holy shit, nazi chinese russia! Thanks a lot Hitler-michelle Obamastalin!
20
When I was in GA, many of my friends worked in the public school system. Rural GA is a horrible place! A significant number of children went to school where the provided school lunch, was the only food these children got! And those were the calories that those kids had to use for activity, development, and learning. As an adolescent, I was on reduced lunches and I was a swimmer. Thankfully, I my family was never in such dire straights that many of our youth are in now and I had food for me waiting at home (the cost of feeding swimming adolescents is not trivial!) Moving around the country certainly shows new levels of poor that I never thought existed in this country. It is quite shameful. I guess that could be a point to the video, I don't see those kids as going hungry either. Maybe they are just trying some satire?
21
@4- Did you notice how many pudgy high school football players there are now? 5000 calories is for a kid running ironmans. An 850 calorie lunch is fine, just eat a Clif bar or a PB&J before practice and an athlete should be fine. If they eat 1200 calories at lunch, their sugar levels will be down by practice time anyway and they'll be fatter.
22
Wait, these kids' parents couldn't pull themselves up by their bootstraps and pay for a nanny to make a pack lunch for their kids? Or better yet; they couldn't give their kids the requisite $15 a day to dine out at places like Olive Garden, Cheesecake Factory, Chili's, and the like to get the necessary 5000 calories a day?
Damn, this is all Obama's fault for redistributing wealth while simultaneously not distrubiting enough to solve these First World Problems! If it weren't for Obama, white kids in America would be living like kings, but he keeps taking their parents' money and literally burning it as kindling for his American flag bonfires (which are made in China, just so we can waste more money).
It's sad times we live in that white, American kids are STARVING TO DEATH because of Obama. It's like our whole country has become a Nazi work camp.
Damn, this is all Obama's fault for redistributing wealth while simultaneously not distrubiting enough to solve these First World Problems! If it weren't for Obama, white kids in America would be living like kings, but he keeps taking their parents' money and literally burning it as kindling for his American flag bonfires (which are made in China, just so we can waste more money).
It's sad times we live in that white, American kids are STARVING TO DEATH because of Obama. It's like our whole country has become a Nazi work camp.
25
If you're going to use French, please use it correctly. It's "à la", because it's French. There is no letter "á" in French. Yes, I'm a pompous jerk for wanting journalists to get this right.
26
Holy crap, I know I'm not a "growing teen" but 850 calories is barely less than what I eat in a day. That's so many calories!
27
@20,
I kind of doubt that the makers of this video give a crap about kids who are so poor that they literally get no food other than their school lunch. For one thing, giving destitute kids one meal a day of 2,000 calories is hardly a solution. What about the other 16 hours in a day? They'll be just as hungry. The solution would be to increase SNAP benefits so those kids can get three squares, but that's not what this video is advocating.
I kind of doubt that the makers of this video give a crap about kids who are so poor that they literally get no food other than their school lunch. For one thing, giving destitute kids one meal a day of 2,000 calories is hardly a solution. What about the other 16 hours in a day? They'll be just as hungry. The solution would be to increase SNAP benefits so those kids can get three squares, but that's not what this video is advocating.
28
@27
No the solution is to drop federal minimum wage, food stamps, etc. entirely so that families will get no benefits other than the opportunity to earn seven dollars a day, and feed their family on that. I want to think that the point of the video is just mediocre satire.
No the solution is to drop federal minimum wage, food stamps, etc. entirely so that families will get no benefits other than the opportunity to earn seven dollars a day, and feed their family on that. I want to think that the point of the video is just mediocre satire.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
Portland Voters Are Stoopid by Goldy
-
An I-5 Bridge Over the Skagit River Has Collapsed by Paul Constant
-
Why They Break Windows by Unpaid Intern
-
Did You Steal Our Unpaid Intern's Camera? by Goldy
-
Usually When I'm Sent a Photoshopped Image of a Gun Pointed At Me... by Dan Savage
-
The Only Thing More Tragic than a Bridge Collapse Would Be a 10 Cent a Gallon Increase in the Gas Tax by Goldy
-
Tornado Truthers by Dan Savage
-
Star Trek Releases Deleted Scene of Benedict Cumberbatch Showering to Counter Claims of Sexism by Cienna Madrid
-
Boy Scouts Lift Ban on Gay Members by Paul Constant
-
SL Letter of the Day: Not A Prude... And Not Just Not That... by Dan Savage
Stranger Personals
The Stranger
RSSSeattle Art & Performance Quarterly
A complete guide to Seattle's current art, film, dance, and theater season.
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (28) RSS