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In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

theguardian.com

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Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#201

Post by makomk »

d883kd8 wrote: post #138
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I have noticed a strange flip-flop over the last 30 years or so. While the most prominent in and out groups have changed, the folks who used to talk the most trash about outsiders are now much more reticent. Now many of the folks who used to complain about getting put down are now the ones (mostly in private, but many times in public) with all the trash talk, i.e., acting like they always thought all the oth…

I've seen it called the "regressive left" in a few places.

This in itself is a very strong, errm, cultural signifier.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#202

Post by Millennium »

tobltobs wrote: post #103
RankingMember wrote: post #55

I remember driving through a Native American reservation in the Southwest and stopping at a McDonald's after seeing not much of anything for miles and miles. I walked in and it was like everyone in the reservation was there hanging out it was so alive with conversation and activity. I'm not a McDonald's fan, but I'm glad they exist to serve purposes like that, because I'm not sure where else the people in that one wo…

The interesting question is, if this is a sign for an achievement of McDonalds or a failure of the society?

I'm not sure it's either one.

I doubt that McDonald's has put much if any particular effort toward building their restaurants into community centers. Without that, I'm not I'm comfortable calling it an achievement on their part. They just sort of fell into the role, and don't seem to have done much to expand it.

As for it being a failure of the society, I'd be tempted to argue the opposite. Lacking a suitable community center (for values of "suitable" that vary from community to community, and which I do not presume to dictate or even know), the community improvised one of its own from what was at hand. We can say that the aesthetics of the implementation are kind of bleak, but to have done it at all is a major success.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#203

Post by codemonkeymike »

It seem to me that the newly renovated McDonalds are more like Panera's so I can see the appeal to go there to hang and converse. My friends and I used to always hang out at McDonalds when we were kids because they don't care if you loiter for hours.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#205

Post by boona »

jernfrost wrote: post #148
boona wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>gutted and underfunded social services The US spends so much, that social security and medicare combined have nearly 33 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities. To give you a sense of scale, that's half of the world's gdp. In terms of taxes, there are 4 payees for every beneficiary and it's estimated that by 2030 that number will be 2 to 1. When you sift through all the propaganda, America is financially imploding…

That is a myth. I have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that Americans tend to thing they spend such huge amount of money on social services and welfare. You don't okay. Look at the statistics and try to travel a bit. For people who have actually been around the world, it is blindly obvious that America isn't spending much money on its poor. America has the highest level of inequality of any rich country. Loo…

>That is a myth ... You don't okay.

I'll stick with the numbers.

>try to travel a bit. For people who have actually been around the world

I don't live in the United States, and I've done plenty of traveling. I'm giving you the facts, and you're ascribing motive and/or a viewpoint. You're saying that the only way I can possibly believe what I believe is because I haven't seen the world. Out of respect for each other and the discussion, why don't we assume that both of us have seen the world and instead stick to the facts.

> America has the highest level of inequality of any rich country. Look it up.

So what? I don't care if Elon Musk retires and plays golf on Mars for the rest of his days, not if that means reduced automotive emissions and a better life for everyone here. The better metric is how well are the poor in the US doing as compared to other countries like the ones you've mentioned.

> I've never been to a developed country where you see so much depravity

I don't know how to quantify that.

> Ok by Indian and Chinese standard, America is probably extremely generous

Exactly, and it's be cause we have a lot of rich people here that pay lots of taxes.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#206

Post by jdmichal »

amelius wrote: post #135
balls187 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried making your own mcdonald's french fries? This process was tedious, but surprisingly effective: http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/05/the-burger-lab-h... I did not have an accurate way to measure the temp of the oil, which is important. Also I reused peanut oil, fresh oil would make the color nicer and a more pure taste.

(That link is hilarious and informative at the same time.) Do you also have a recipe for the sauce?

Are you referring to the Big Mac sauce? If so, a thousand island dressing gets you pretty close. Or just mix ketchup, mayo, and sweet relish for an easy DIY version. Balance to taste.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#207

Post by Karunamon »

niftich wrote: post #145
_Codemonkeyism wrote: post #119

What astonishes me, is how often poor people go eating in a restaurant (e.g. breakfast in the first paragraph) when making breakfast at home (or lunch) is so much cheaper (as a fun exercise we often calculate the prices of our home lunch). Although I have a nice income, 80% of the time I bring my own food to work because restaurants are too expensive in my opinion to regularly use them. As a side note: I have the sus…

To make food at home, you either need fresh, perishable ingredients and/or time to prep and cook. Even accessing fresh ingredients may be a hassle (see: food deserts), so eating off the dollar menu often feels like a better use of your money than making the trek to the grocery store to buy some perishables that you then have to cook before they go bad. It's similar to why poor people buy poor-quality shoes more often…

And just to add on to this, it's worse when you're cooking for one, it's far too easy to let ingredients go to waste.

People never think about anything but the cash register price when making this comparison for some reason...

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#208

Post by Yhippa »

smokey_the_bear wrote: post #6

McDonalds is the only restaurant I enjoy eating at with my 2 and 3 year olds. Every other restaurant is a slog to get through the meal. Honestly I'd eat there more often if it weren't for the social stigma of it. (I live in Berkeley). I am pretty sure the cheeseburger, apple slices, and chocolate milk are not much worse, and probably better, than the typical fare on a slapped together kids meal. When I was a kid, my…

I don't know if this is sad or not but I remember several birthdays when I was very young at McDonalds and Burger King. They had playgrounds and some fun simple games for us to play. I don't believe they charged us for it other than the food we purchased.

I too had some fond memories of those parties.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#210

Post by yardie »

inDigiNeous wrote: post #154
smokey_the_bear wrote: post #6

McDonalds is the only restaurant I enjoy eating at with my 2 and 3 year olds. Every other restaurant is a slog to get through the meal. Honestly I'd eat there more often if it weren't for the social stigma of it. (I live in Berkeley). I am pretty sure the cheeseburger, apple slices, and chocolate milk are not much worse, and probably better, than the typical fare on a slapped together kids meal. When I was a kid, my…

Probably better than a real meal made at an restaraunt ? Are you trolling ? Do you know how much preservatives and sugar goes into the food at McDonalds ? See this video for an idea how long the food at McDonalds takes to rot because of these artificial ingredients: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uHxRwQqWFo Also have fun time knowing that each time you visit McDonalds, you are supporting the slavery and killing of…

That hamburger was turned into jerky. You could do that to any meat. Preservatives or not
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