One viral thread perfectly shares the painful reality of why poorer families buy junk food.

That escalated quickly.

 Brownwyn Isaac
06.13.19

The celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is currently on a tear with his #AdEnough campaign, which promotes a new sugar tax. If put into effect, the sugar tax would jack up the prices of junk food in hopes of promoting healthier eating and better cooking practices.

"This a tax for good; this is a tax for love; this is designed to protect and give to the most disadvantaged communities," Oliver said, and the tax would be part of an ongoing effort to fight childhood obesity.

However, Oliver is far from the first to propose a sugar tax to fight obesity and health issues, and this measure giving to 'the most disadvantaged communities' is not only inaccurate, but helps promote classist ideals about working class parenting.

In a now viral thread, Twitter user @sibylpain broke down why she thinks these taxes are misguided, and how they end up punishing the poor people they claim to uplift.



She opened up by sharing how her dad worked around the clock to support her brother and her, and their mother was financially out of the picture, but would show up to the home during violent outbursts.




She then went on to lay out the logistics, and how her father's work schedule only allowed him an average of four hours of sleep, and he neither had time nor money to buy food to make from scratch.








She went on to say that at the end of the day, it's far healthier for kids to eat junk food than not eat at all because their parents can no longer afford cheap food under a sugar tax. Most loving parents want the best for their kids, but if you're saddled with 60 hour work weeks, on top of potential disabilities or depression, getting lectured about not cooking stir fry is ultimately unhelpful.






To close out the thread, she laid out actual policies that would better public health and support low income families, those of which include affordable housing measures, an increased minimum wage, and better support for people with disabilities.






At the end of the day, if people have more money and time to make healthier choices, they likely will, but taxing people for buying cheap and accessible food (which usually falls under the umbrella of junk food) ends up punishing families trying to get by.

This article originally appeared on SomeeCards. You can read it here.


junk food health food vegetables food cost food dieting twitter
Culture

The whale that plays fetch is in danger, but there's a team working hard to protect him

The Guardian / YouTube

Earlier this month, a beluga whale caught the world's attention by playing fetch with a rugby ball thrown by South African researchers off the waters of Norway.

The adorable video has been watched over 20 million times, promoting people across the globe to wonder how the whale became so comfortable around humans.

It's believed that the whale, known as Hvaldimir, was at some point, trained by the Russian military and was either released or escaped.

Keep Reading Show less
hvaldimir whale rugby whale save the whales norway beluga whale avocates for hvladimir mashable mic.com beluga fetch update
popular

A dad's Facebook post is going viral for the way he handled his daughter's first period

Facebook / Maverick Austin

Your first period is always a weird one. You know it's going to happen eventually, but you're not always expecting it. One day, everything is normal, then BAM. Puberty hits you in a way you can't ignore.

One dad is getting attention for the incredibly supportive way he handled his daughter's first period. "So today I got 'The Call,'" Maverick Austin started out a Facebook post that has now gone viral.

The only thing is, Austin didn't know he got "the call." His 13-year-old thought she pooped her pants. At that age, your body makes no sense whatsoever. It's a miracle every time you even think you know what's going on.

Keep Reading Show less
parenting father viral first period facebook dads periods
popular

A plus-sized fashion blogger was shamed for dressing like Meghan Markle. Her response was perfect.

Instagram / Katie Sturino

Plus-size women are in the majority. In America, 68% of women wear a size 14 or higher. Yet many plus-sized are ignored by the fashion industry. Plus-sized clothing is a $21 billion industry, however only one-fifth of clothing sales are plus-sized. On top of that, plus-sized women are often body shamed, further reinforcing that bigger body types are not mainstream despite the fact that it is common.

Plus-size fashion blogger Katie Sturino recently called out her body shamers. Sturino runs the blog, The 12ish Style, showing that plus-sized fashion isn't – and shouldn't be – limited to clothes that hide the body.

Keep Reading Show less
popular

A Straight Pride parade was held in Dallas but only three people showed up

via Twitter / Soraya

There is a strange right-wing logic that suggests when minorities fight for equal rights it's somehow a threat to the rights already held by those in the majority or who hold power.

Like when the Black Lives Matter movement started, many on the right claimed that fighting for black people to be treated equally somehow meant that other people's lives were not as valuable, leading to the short-lived All Lives Matter movement.

This same "oppressed majority" logic is behind the new Straight Pride movement which made headlines in August after its march through the streets of Boston.

Keep Reading Show less
popular