Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by bluedino | Hacker News Reader

Full thread

bluedino

>> In September, its last supermarket closed, and the city has been declared a "food desert" by the USDA.

There might not be a Safeway or a Kroger, but there are still places to buy groceries.

http://i.imgur.com/Ey903PW.png

Really tied of the media exaggerating the term 'food desert'

View on HN

What are these buildings? Are they discount grocers, with cheap but OK food, or are they gas stations, with lunchables and frozen pizzas? It's hard to tell from a screenshot of a map.

I'm not denying that the term "food desert" is suspect, I just can't tell what you're trying to prove.

They're Food-and-Liquors. You can buy milk and eggs there.

Based on street view (and my limited knowledge of Camden based on living across the Delaware River in Philadelphia) these are all corner stores and bodegas that in some cases may have some limited fresh food, but most of the sales volume is likely packaged goods.

The idea of a "food desert" as I understand it is that it's an area with limited access to nutritious foods. Most of Camden definitely qualifies, especially for residents without cars.

There's also plenty of places to buy food in Philly. You can walk there across the bridge, but it's something like a 30 minute walk each way (so not ideal for a proper grocery trip). There's also buses to/from Philly, unless that's changed since mid-2011.

I assume the notorious Dunkin' Donuts store is still operating in Camden.

Philly is not exactly packed with grocery stores either. Without a car getting across the bridge is the easy part, you then need to get to one of the grocery stores and get back from it with your food. That will take a while, even on buses (which are rather poor in Philly), so in order to make it worth your time you will need to get a lot of food at once... which is difficult without a car, even on buses.

There is an aldi's in camden, albeit on the border. I go there sometimes after getting off the train.

"Really tied of the media exaggerating the term 'food desert'"

This article has been given the full "MATT TAIBBI" treatment. Of course he's a writer and wants to sell magazines.

He didn't add a "to be sure" phrase he is going for maximum gullibility of the readers to get emotion and engagement.

For example:

"where oblivious tourists pour in every year, gobbling cheese steaks and gazing at the Liberty Bell, having no idea that they're a short walk over the Ben Franklin Bridge from a full-blown sovereignty crisis – an un-Fantasy Island of extreme poverty and violence where the police just a few years ago essentially surrendered a city of 77,000."

So the definition of "oblivious" is "not aware of or not concerned about what is happening around one."

That would seem to imply to me that they have some kind of an obligation to be (when they are going on vacation) aware of what is happening across the river (and out of site) in a major city in the US. As if they are the CEO and aren't aware that there is sexual abuse going on and hey they should be. No such requirement exists. That they feel bad or should have some clue. Sorry not the case. Work hard, make money, take family on vacation. Saving the world do that on a different trip. Why not skip the trip and give the money you would spend to the poor people of Camden? Good for you.

Note also the triviality of "gobbling cheese steaks and gazing at the Liberty Bell" juxtaposed against true tragedy. Why does that matter? It doesn't but it provides color to the story and contrast. (By the way Philly is way more than cheesesteaks and the Liberty Bell I wish the media would get off of that already with the city).

Tourists of course are most likely aware that there is poverty somewhere in any big city. There is also plenty of poverty in North Philly but Taibbi doesn't focus on that (and that's just as close and in the same city).

By the way I wonder how many people going to Rock Concerts are "oblivious" to all the things that go on with respect to musicians, drugs and the drug trade? Or do they just want to hear good music? That's fine, right?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com