Treehugger, that former font of Eco-Socialism, went pretty much dry when they fired the writers (like Lloyd Alter and Sami Grover) that were smart, stuck to their guns – and provoked a community of commenters that often were more interesting than the articles themselves.
However, the pickings have been far and few between – until a couple of days ago. TH has become, for the most part, a Lefty feminist hangout with “fluffy” style posts that often have little to do with what their mission used to be.
I still stroll over every once in a while in search of a weed or two poking out of that barren ground, and I found one just CHUNKY with Social Justice gibberish.
The title is kinda middling of the road, but the subtitle gives you what Hayley Bruning wants you to believe. If you can cut through the Leftist lexicon (reformatted, emphasis mine):
What Is Food Apartheid?
How we analyze and reform our food systems begins with the language we use.
Indeed. Words matter, and words SHOULD have very specific and precise meanings. Sure, English, with overloaded words (words that can have very different definitions based on context), lots of idioms…
Sidenote: it’s been fun raising the Grandson. And part of that is watching him trying to parse what most of us take for granted – words strung together that get across an idea but to the uninitiated, just a blank look. I often, when confronted by a confirmed SJW, have to parse the words and then translate these made-up words to “normal English” as the PURPOSE of those words is to seem benign, seem neutral, but totally change the topic and what is REALLY desired.
…and a subset of people who are deliberately trying to put Orwell’s 1984 warning into reality by weaponizing language to change thought processes by redefining words. Hayley is stupid enough to be upfront to admit that’s her purpose:
How we analyze and reform our food systems begins with the language we use. Food apartheid is a concept that sheds light on the structures that limit access to affordable, nutrient-dense foods in low-income communities. It often pushes ultra-processed food with wasteful packaging that is not optimal for people or the planet. The term is often used in conversation with food desert, which refers to areas with limited access to supermarkets but does not imply the systemic issues that cause the low access. In this article, we analyze these terms, the impacts of food apartheid, and how to achieve more just food systems that promote food sovereignty and sustainability.
Language Overview
When considering the origin of “food apartheid,” sources commonly refer to a 2018 Guernica interview with Karen Washington, an activist and community organizer who popularized the term. Washington stated in the interview that the term “food desert” inaccurately represents neighborhoods that are not in close proximity to supermarkets with nutritious foods. This has been echoed in a blog by the National Resources Defense Council, which points out that “food desert” has been criticized for undermining the vibrancy of the neighborhoods and implying, with the use of “desert,” that these situations are naturally occurring.On the contrary, food environments are built and designed unequally, with racial and economic factors to analyze, and “food apartheid” more accurately identifies the oppressive structures that created this inadequate access than “food desert.”
Everything is based on race – Critical Race Theory and Racism has totally permeated the SJW mind thought and processes. NOTHING else matters if they can’t attach some remains of racism to everything in Society to keep the Oppressor/Oppressed going – even as they have to strain hard to see the tiniest atom of such being present.
“[‘Food apartheid’] looks at the whole food system, along with race, geography, faith, and economics,” said Washington in the Guernica interview. “You say ‘food apartheid’ and you get to the root cause of some of the problems around the food system. It brings in hunger and poverty. It brings us to the more important question: What are some of the social inequalities that you see, and what are you doing to erase some of the injustices?”
The thing that drives me nuts the most is the word “designed” as if there is some racist set of gnomes sitting around some candle at a round table constantly scheming on how they keep people down. Sorry, there’s another name for them – Planners and they get paid by Government. Since Hayley is talking about urban areas that are, pretty much, controlled by Democrats, she has no idea she’s blaming people like herself. After all, in the large cities in America, when is the last time those cities had Republican mayors (and forget about the city council majority being Republican)?
And NO discussion of the illiberal word salads can be complete without their most “powerful” word (other than “FASCIST!” of which they have no idea what the real definition truly is):
In addition to characterizing inequitable food environments, the term “food apartheid” begins an intersectional conversation about race, policy, agriculture, and reform.
Ayup, “intersectional” – the word that is THE nexus point of all of their arguments. It is their main justification meaning that NOTHING can be deconstructed into its component parts (what an engineer does – taking a large problem and breaking it down so that each part can logically be analyzed (and rectified) and then, and ONLY then, reassemble the parts. And it’s THE way to hide flaws and disregard some of their chaff they flow up into the air that hides their intents.
Anyways, this I couldn’t leave alone so seeing a long lost opportunity to take a whack at an Eco-Socialist again (even if Social Justice Warrior is a better fit), I took it. After all, my TH friend Vindaloo Bugaboo had alerted me that he tore her a new one as well so I felt duty bound to join in the fun. After all, “apartheid” is a GOVERNMENT Policy. Really, a Government flunky that doesn’t even know the history of the word (or is deliberately ignoring it)?
Let me chime in as well – the inanity of trying to use “Food apartheid”.
You DO know how “apartheid” is defined, right? Oh, no you don’t as VB pointed out. Let’s start with the strict definition:
An official policy of racial segregation formerly practiced in the Republic of South Africa, involving political, legal, and economic discrimination against nonwhites.
A policy or practice of separating or segregating groups.
Do you know what that takes? GOVERNMENT. So are you blaming Government for “Food Apartheid”?
No, you’re not – it’s just part of the Leftist word salad of newly made up words or phrases used strictly for political purposes and generally to induce guilt in others. But yes, you SHOULD be blaming Government for this but not for the amorphous and ambiguous sense of “Society’s fault” you intended.
Ever think that the policies put in place by Government is actually the root cause? WHY are people poor? Much is because of crappy public education. Remember that case where a high school senior in the Baltimore school system wasn’t going to graduate because of his 0.15 GPA? After four years, he was illiterate 14 different ways to Sunday.
Yet, he was in the top half of his class. GOVERNMENT failed him – continuing to socially promote him. And his Mom railed against the school District “Why did you let this happen to my boy???”.
I asked the same question of her – where was SHE during his K-12 years?
So failure up and down. That comes down to a failure, not of Society, but of the Local Culture – a culture of failure. Yet here you are, Hayley, attempting to use the language of the Left to blame everyone else. Go ahead, continue to make them “victims” and find fault with everything that have nothing to do with the situation that the residents themselves have caused (and yes, VB’s Portland and Seattle are far from the only examples but are certainly the best known). [from VB’s comment]:
Send them to a farm in Ohio to work for it. I would guarantee nearly 100% of them will cut & run within a day, if not the first hour, after stepping foot on that farmer’s land.
Again, Culture (or the lack of culture or the WRONG culture). Some folks might flourish if you did that – but not most because Government policies have caused a severe entitlement mentality problem here in the US. “Victimization” breeds contempt for those that refuse to want to continue to give free stuff because the idea of “Self-responsibility” has been beaten out of them.
And you just added to that. And don’t squawk that I’m victim blaming. Being a former daycare owner, I saw plenty of examples of what I just wrote about. “You should do this and You should be doing that” was what I heard – but when I turned the table and asked what THEY are doing, all I got was screams in return.
That’s what the Left has done to a formerly “Can-do, bootstrapping, self-responsible, and self-reliant” culture under the guise of “a hand up”.
You can thank LBJ’s “Great Society” that brushed aside husbands and Dads when a family got into rough straits because the Government policy demanded that they couldn’t be around if Government was going to give the Mom and kids the help they needed.
So, what’s that rate of absent fathers in the family again, especially in the Democrat controlled cities you are writing about, Hayley?
Yeah, 70% or so. And you don’t think THAT changed the Culture and changed it from depending on Dad and husband to being one dependent on Government?
I agree with VB – your blinkeredness has blinded you.
I’ll end this long post with the SAVAGE end of VB’s post:
Stop blaming racism for every damn thing “wrong” in this country. It’s race baiting gaslighters like you who keep lying to the gullible public, making them think that racism is keeping minorities down when it’s in fact poverty. And you fight poverty with education, dedication, sacrifice, and work ethic. Inner city minorities often turn their noses on all of that.
