Moby faces backlash for op-ed saying food stamps shouldn't pay for soda, candy, or processed meats
Moby is being criticized for his op-ed on food stamps.
In an article for the Wall Street Journal titled “Food Stamps Shouldn’t Pay for Junk,” the vocal vegan argues that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) should have limitations on what people can buy.
The singer and DJ opens the post by sharing his personal experience with SNAP. “The Food Stamp Program started as a way to help people whose shelves were empty,” he begins. “It certainly helped my family. My mother was a single parent who struggled to make ends meet in wealthy Darien, Conn., during the 1970s. We relied on food stamps until I was 16.”
However, the singer calls out how the offerings are not always helpful or healthy: “SNAP rules allow stores to distribute candy, soda, cheese products, energy drinks, processed meats and lots of other items that end up seriously compromising the health of SNAP recipients.”
“Large industrial food producers love a program that obliges the government to pay for anything and everything they produce,” he pens. “Selling soda, candy and heavily processed meats is easy when the government picks up the tab. Under SNAP, the big food conglomerates go to the bank while the poor end up in the emergency room.”
Moby believes the government should push for a program that focuses on “cheap, healthy foods like beans, vegetables, fruit and whole grains.”
“Congress should fix SNAP, not gut it,” he concludes. “The U.S. can have healthier people, lower health-care costs, and a trimmer budget at the same time.”
The post has enraged many readers, with some saying the concept essentially shames the poor.
moby: we are all made of stars
also moby: life should be more difficult for poor people https://t.co/uxA6JXOCOm
— jon hendren (@fart) April 10, 2018
Moby, who’s rich, should STFU and stop pairing with the WSJ to punch the poor & advocate for controlling what they do. Being poor is stressful, eating healthy takes time many people don’t have. https://t.co/32FJFJ96ma
— Alexis Goldstein (@alexisgoldstein) April 10, 2018
gonna jump in my time machine and tell my 8th grade self 2018 Moby claims to get intelligence briefings from the CIA and writes opeds in WSJ shaming poor people for eating skittles
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) April 10, 2018
Things Moby’s op-ed doesn’t address:
1.) Food deserts
2.) The fact that healthy food can be expensive
3.) The fact that some families on SNAP might not have the time/equipment to prepare healthy foods— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) April 10, 2018
We now turn to subject matter expert Moby, who has identified the key problems with SNAP: It is too good at feeding poor people, and not good enough at making them feel bad for eating the same foods as non-poor people. https://t.co/k2A0hxdDe1 pic.twitter.com/xSnt3juaBZ
— Gray Kimbrough (@graykimbrough) April 10, 2018
While others pointed out the hypocrisy in dictating what people can and can’t eat.
In this passage Moby talks about the shame that can be felt when poor but doesn’t seem to understand that having your diet dictated to you because you’re poor could/would make folks feel shame/humiliated. pic.twitter.com/91lbxN3QYh
— Elon James White (@elonjames) April 10, 2018
dear moby
this is a bad and classist opinion
other people’s bodies are none of yr business
-jss https://t.co/bMpuF9xVpc— jes skolnik / texas calboy (@modernistwitch) April 10, 2018
Especially while you’re a millionaire.
Moby’s current net worth is what $30 million? Perhaps we cans top taking policy suggestions from rich people who think poverty should be punitive? https://t.co/oBkQjj8cyP
— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) April 10, 2018
Moby had his supporters, too.
“Under SNAP, the big food conglomerates go to the bank while the poor end up in the emergency room.” – Moby on making the SNAP program healthy, via @WSJ: https://t.co/6ZX7ZnxMXv pic.twitter.com/6xuaC9tMci
— Physicians Committee (@PCRM) April 10, 2018
Great insights about how to reform #SNAP from musician/writer/artist #Moby https://t.co/3kh8b7t1VM
— Janis Powers (@janis_powers) April 10, 2018
You can read the whole op-ed here.
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