More Rubbish

Related to what I shared yesterday--this set of images from a popular news network has been doing the rounds on social media this week. Actual complaint that so many poor people would dare to own refrigerators. You have got to be kidding me.

If these tomatoes go bad, they can always get a second life
being hurled at a jerk. (Don't put your tomatoes in the
fridge, though. That's not good for them.)
Source: Michal K on freeimages.com.

Yes, because having to throw out food because it went bad and end up spending even more of their too-tight budget just to keep their family fed is exactly what we should be expecting poor people to do. Because then we can judge them even more! What's the fun in being alive if we can't look down our noses at others?

Not that I think the other complaints in that photo set are any more valid, but this one is especially egregious. Why would someone seriously consider a refrigerator a luxury? Get a tighter grip on your indignation. We have real problems to solve and real needs to meet--there's no need for anyone to go around inventing ways to show off how uncaring they can be, not when we have ready-made ones to choose from.

Related to my interests: I notice that cars, which are a huge drain on a family's budget, are not listed. Because maybe it would be a step too far for a major news network to acknowledge that making car ownership a requirement for full participation in U.S. society is a burden to low-income families? They might have to give air time and serious consideration to real alternatives, and it might end with them calling on cities and states to make transit and bike/ped funding a priority. And goodness knows we can't have that.