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-Short Attention Span Theater-
The Stupidly Obvious Phrase of the Day
2008-04-28
John Scalzi

“The Poor Suffer the Most”

Used, for example, in this news header today in a story about food shortages: “As a brutal convergence of events hits an unprepared global market, and grain prices go sky high, the world’s poor suffer most.”

Really? The poor suffering the most? ItÂ’s hard to imagine. Because, you know, usually when thereÂ’s a major global crisis of any sort, itÂ’s the poor sitting there on the sidelines, going whew, dodged that bullet. How strange that the people the least economically, socially and educationally able to deal with wrenching change should suffer the most. How odd that the rich should so often be able to shield themselves from the ravages of events. ItÂ’s almost as if they have some advantage over poor people, although off the top of my head what it might be escapes me.

Which is not to say that the rich always get off scot free: who among us can forget The Great Davos Lobster Bisque Inconvenience of ‘04, in which the victims, none with a net worth of less than $15 million, suffered a small amount of gastric distress due to too much heavy cream in the soup? . . .

A tip for news writers: it’ll be news when the poor don’t suffer the most. “As the mysterious Billionaire’s Virus decimates Aspen, the world’s stinkin’ rich suffer the most.” That’s a news head worth writing.
Posted by:Mike

#6  And don't forget that bunnies, fluffy kittens, and baby ducks suffer, too. Often far worse than the poor. But you never hear about them, nooooooooo, until the MSM morons who cheered Rev em up Wright get bored about writing about the sufferings of poor people, minorities, women, chilluns, n' infinks.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2008-04-28 23:26  

#5  You mean white men, the ones with all the guns and anger? They can see their limit to what they can endure racing towards them at ever faster, even breakneck speeds. We are running a pressure cooker on high, and the cook is passed out drunk on the couch.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2008-04-28 20:08  

#4  "Brutal convergence of events" > wel-l-l, we already know from the Russia and Chinese, ala Year 2018 and Anti-US "WAR NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT DESIRED", and Other(s) on the Net-MSM, that the bulk/most of you-know-what-hitting the-fan ISN'T SCHEDULED UNTIL AFTER 2010.

COMMPLAN? GOSPLAN? GLOBPLAN? COMECON= GLOBECON/GLOMECON?.........................@.

I blame PAULA "DELILAH/BATHSHEBA" "TRIPS TO BRAZIL" ABDUL.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2008-04-28 18:15  

#3  I thought it was "women, minorities"?

Well, that describes all the "GOOD" poor. White men need not apply.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839   2008-04-28 17:58  

#2  when there was a huge earthquake in Taiwan a few years ago, there was a shortage of RAM. No one then said "the poor suffer the most". Every once in a while theres a shortage of some luxury good, and then the poor dont suffer the most. A food shortage is distinctive, as the poor spend a higher % of their income on food, and of that, a higher % on grain.

Posted by: liberalhawk   2008-04-28 17:33  

#1  I thought it was "women, minorities"?
Posted by: tu3031   2008-04-28 14:41  

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