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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

#341

Post by blakeyrat »

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…

I love this tired old trope.

It doesn't rot because there's no bacteria in it. There's no bacteria in it because it was cooked thoroughly.

Any well-done burger from any restaurant will last a similar amount of time. Try it.

BTW, what animal do they serve is "intelligent"? That one has me curious. The smartest thing on their menu I suppose would be the pork?

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

#342

Post by gozur88 »

rue wrote: post #326
kristianc wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, from today, is another classic of the genre. A Guardian columnist walking round one of the UK's poorest districts bewildered that white working class people do not share his opinions on the European Union: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2016/jun/14/l...

“Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.” Smugness is certainly a fact, but so is that brexit will leave the UK economically worse off in pretty much all respects. Especially the poor.

No, that is not a fact at all. It's a guess. A projection. You have no idea what the EU is going to look like in five years, let alone twenty or thirty.

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

#343

Post by city41 »

cloakandswagger wrote: post #339
city41 wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you live in a San Francisco suburb. Try a small town in West Virginia or Alabama. It's very different.

Then the people that live there should make an effort to move out west. Again, not hard -- take some CodeAcademy classes.

That's pretty silly. You both imply we can all fit in the bay area, and that poverty is a trivially solved problem. Both are definitely not true.

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

#344

Post by ghaff »

cloakandswagger wrote: post #339
city41 wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you live in a San Francisco suburb. Try a small town in West Virginia or Alabama. It's very different.

Then the people that live there should make an effort to move out west. Again, not hard -- take some CodeAcademy classes.

I assume you're being a troll. Because the alternatives I can think of are a lot worse.

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

#345

Post by tspike »

DrScump wrote: post #277
ececconi wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're wrong. The salad is a mixture of kale, romaine lettuce, and other ingredients. Looks like you haven't looked at the ingredient labels. Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad: Ingredients: Romaine Lettuce, Baby Spinach, Carrots, Baby Kale, Lollo Rossa Lettuce, Red Leaf Lettuce, Red Oak Lettuce, Red Tango Lettuce, Red Romaine Lettuce, Red Butter Lettuce. Ingredients May Vary. Source: http://www.mcdonalds.com/content/us…

Ingredients May Vary I should hope so. Chicken is not listed there, in any form! Speaking of which, a general note: never, ever buy anything with Mechanically Processed poultry or pork... or at least read about exactly what that means first.

What is your objection to mechanically processed meat? Sure, the process doesn't sound appetizing, but it's a way to ensure that all the meat on an animal is used, which IMHO is a good thing.

Also, for what it's worth, neither chicken nuggets nor the beef patties at McDonalds are made with mechanically separated meat anymore.

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

#346

Post by noobermin »

stcredzero wrote: post #76
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…

People finding community of some form is not just a good thing, it's an essential thing to human life. It should always be lauded. However, there is a lot of socioeconomic and sub-cultural in-group/out-group judgement in US society, all of which feels absolutely justified by those doing the judging. http://www.vox.com/2016/4/21/11451378/smug-american-liberali... In reality, it's all exactly the same sort of crap that…

I think a discussion of tone is a worthwhile discussion to have, although I believe you agree that it does not constitute a valid counterargument against[0] any side. I do agree there is an unfortunate smugness amongst many liberals that is unsettling to me, but it's a little different than the "Jim Crow south." Sorry, but AGW, the economic state of Kansas after the tax cuts, the evidence behind the theory of evolution are not "opinions", they are studied facts and/or statistics, many of them in published reputable journals. However, one's opinions about "the negro" are not scientific facts, and differences between the races has been rejected by most scientists. These are not the same.

And sure, one can somewhat respect the rights of a human being who denies scientific evidence, and I do believe many liberals need to be receptive and open-minded to others' arguments even when they violate their deepest convictions. The rise of safe-spaces and vehement protests against conservative speakers shows that libs are not great in this regard either. You need not and should not make fun of their heritage, their accent or make assumptions about their personality or behavior. At the very least, if you really don't care about being fair, disregarding evidence without offering a counterargument or giving a reason[1] is bad enough of a sin that no one needs anything else to accuse an opponent of.

[0] http://paulgraham.com/disagree.html

[1] I really mean this, a discussion is the right thing that needs to happen.

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

#347

Post by pjlegato »

jernfrost wrote: post #157

Bizarre how the article seems to present this as a hopeful and positive thing about McDonalds. To me it is just another indicator of how broken American society is. A fast food place serving terrible and unhealthy food is becoming a gathering place for poor people who are probably the ones most in need of a healthier and better lifestyle. It is also a sad reminder of how society has gone so utterly wrong when the che…

A little perspective: cheap, unhealthy fast food is not ideal, but it's much better than the previous state of society -- for all of human history until approximately 50 years ago, and still the case in most of the world -- where poor people just went hungry.

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

#348

Post by lkrubner »

It's not just poor neighborhoods. I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. This is a mostly affluent area, but there are some homeless. There is a McDonalds at 95th street, on Broadway. I believe it is 24 hours, or at least it is open very late. Any time I walk home late at night, I notice that dozens of people are clustered around that place. It offers safety and warmth and a place people can talk to each other.

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

#349

Post by pjlegato »

alex_sf wrote: post #60
grecy wrote: post #30

> 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. Wow. It saddens me to see that statement. I thought it was commonly knowledge that McDonalds isn't actually "food" in the nutrition and health sense of the word any more than cotton candy and pure salt are.

That's awfully ignorant. Hating on McDonalds and the like is the trendy thing to do now, but to say that there is no nutritional or health value in their food is ridiculous. I just looked up the nutrition facts for a kid's happy meal with a cheeseburger, apples slices and chocolate milk. In total, you've got: 450 calories 12g total fat 6g saturated fat (not that it matters) 61g Carbs 32g Sugars (22 of which come from…

High sodium intake is not bad for you (unless you have a few very specific and unusual health conditions.) Like most late 20th century nutritional guidance, turns out that idea was totally wrong.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-th...

https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=sodium+no+longer+bad+f...

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