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August 22, 2005
The Poor, The Unlikeable
Last weekend, I came across this blatant example of the kind of subtle and not-so-subtle "blame the poor" angle that one often sees in the stories regarding low-income people (if it wasn't bad enough how rare such stories are).
Now, if you were a journalist and were assigned to write a story about how the rising energy costs were making life hard for low-income people, who would you pick? And what would you cover?
Certainly, most low-income people live frugal lives, out of necessity, which often becomes an admirable habit, and find their budgets strained by even small fluctuations --such as an increase in gasoline prices. Plus, in a country with scant public transportation, many low-income people are forced to drive to work whether they like it or not. So, it shouldn't be too hard to go to, say, a job search center, a welfare-to-work office, or any of the myriad of places one can find huge numbers of people struggling to make ends meet.
Or, if you are really unimaginitive, one could ask the janitor that cleans your office every night about how gas prices are effecting them, or people they know. (And one can be against gas being too cheap, since it is a non-renewable, limited resource, along with some subsidies for low-income people as well as subsidies for mass transit).
Then again, you might spend your time and find an unsympathetic character. (Extra points if that person is black).
So, here's the person chosen by a Washington Post reporter:
Alfred Jones used to steer his sporty Mazda MX-6 onto the Beltway and drive the entire loop for the thrill of it. He knew the trip was senseless, but he could afford the gas.Things have changed. Jones lost his job, and rising gas prices have forced him to give up driving his car entirely.
Higher pump prices have drained his savings and left him unable to renew his vehicle registration. Jones, 48, of Upper Marlboro spends much of his time at his mother's house, where he lives, frequently checking online job listings.
"You have to make choices now between food or gas," Jones said. "It hurts. It's killing me."
It's not like the rest of the story is that bad -- except perhaps for the family that -bohoo- had to cancel the Pizza Hut outings and stop buying PlayStation games. It's just that when you start with someone reckless enough with money --and earth's resources-- to loop around the beltway for the fun of it, you are rolling your eyes by the time you get to the it's now food or gas line.
Plus, the story also ends with this person, with the line, "moving and grooving," which seems to me to be aimed at reminding everyone that our wanna-be gas-guzzler is black (with an additional picture on the side if anyone is still underinformed at this point.)
When his car registration expired, he did not have enough money left to cover it, so he has parked his Mazda for now.When he does leave the house to run errands for his mother and he sees other people driving, he realizes what he is missing.
"I'm supposed to be out there moving and grooving too," he said.
Yeah, moving and grooving. That's all poor people think about, get it? Nudge-nudge. I say, let's not stop with Social Security, let's abolish Medicaid too.
Posted by zeynep at August 22, 2005 09:02 PM
Comments
wtf
Posted by: Brandon at August 23, 2005 01:59 PM