4 Working Moms Respond To Bill O'Reilly's Latest Poor-Shaming Tirade

[kpete]

As Bill O’Reilly apparently does not know a single family straining to make ends meet, we did his homework for him and asked four mothers who have experienced hunger to tell us what they think about his comments:

Bill O’Reilly said show me hunger and I say, “Here I am.” My children have lived through a lot of adverse situations; we have been homeless and have relied on shelters. Without food stamps, my children would starve. When is it okay for children to starve in this country? When is it okay to actively ignore starving children in your country? — Asia Thompson, Pennsylvania

He hasn’t experienced poverty but Bill O’Reilly should know that poverty can happen to anyone. When my twin sons were 9 months old, my husband lost his job and we had to go on WIC to feed our children. This program provided support and the food was one less thing we had to worry about. And as a Head Start teacher, I see firsthand how kids can’t focus in school because they’re so hungry. – Mary Janet Bryant, Kentucky

I used all of these programs for my children, and I am a success story like thousands of other parents. My oldest daughter is in her fourth year of college studying stem cell biology on her way to a PhD. I beg to differ with Bill O’Reilly’s opinion, as he doesn’t have firsthand experience with hunger and poverty. – Vivian Thorpe, California

I think it’s easy to miss the signs of child poverty and hunger in our society because people often look better than they feel. I was less hungry as a kid because my family benefited from WIC, SNAP, and school lunch. I also graduated from high school, college, and graduate school. I have worked hard for 25 years in the TV business and I am the social safety net for my family now. To my way of thinking, Bill O’Reilly is seeing the emperor in a fine new suit of gold-threaded clothes but that emperor is naked. – Sherry Brennan, California

http://talkpoverty.org/2015/10/08/bill-oreilly-denied-child-hunger-exists-4-mothers-struggled-hunger-respond/

[Hortensis]

1. Poor shaming isn't just a blood sport. Even our nice neighbors are

forced to rely on it more and more tenaciously to defend what are increasingly being shown up as dysfunctional political choices.

And it's not just "others" who are being shamed. One older couple who sold their home and moved after a series of medical problems basically disappeared, cutting off all ties, not even returning to church now and then. I'll never know for sure, but I strongly suspect they are victims of their own increasingly stubborn ideology that the poor must be fundamentally undeserving, primarily victims of their own actions, or they wouldn't be poor. Knowing them, I feel they must be at least somewhat ashamed and feel they no longer belong among groups who like to sing that song about others.

And, in spite of this shabby attitude toward people "out there," they were very nice and giving people to not only a large group of friends but to newcomers to their neighborhood like us.