More about: Moby

Musician Moby, him off the nineties, has penned a controversial op-ed for the Wall Street Journal decrying what he perceives as the regressive food stamp programme in the United States of America.

In the piece, ‘Food Stamps Shouldn’t Pay for Junk’, the vegan activist argues that the Supplemental NutritionAssistance Program (SNAP) has completely the wrong idea about what poor people should be putting in their mouths.

“Even though SNAP is generally well-intentioned, what it puts on shelves is not always helpful or healthy,” he writes. “SNAP rules allow stores to distribute candy, soda, cheese products, energy drinks, processed meats and lots of other items that end up seriously compromising the health of SNAP recipients.”

He suggests, “A better approach would be to focus the program on cheap, healthy foods like beans, vegetables, fruit and whole grains.”

Moby concludes the op-ed, “Congress should fix SNAP, not gut it. The U.S. can have healthier people, lower health-care costs, and a trimmer budget at the same time.”

Predictably Twitter has been riding his ass for being a rich out-of-touch white dude:

moby: we are all made of stars

also moby: life should be more difficult for poor people https://t.co/uxA6JXOCOm

— jon hendren (@fart) April 10, 2018

“Moby, who’s rich, should STFU and stop pairing with the WSJ to punch the poor & advocate for controlling what they do. Being poor is stressful, eating healthy takes time many people don’t have.”

Moby, who’s rich, should STFU and stop pairing with the WSJ to punch the poor & advocate for controlling what they do. Being poor is stressful, eating healthy takes time many people don’t have. https://t.co/32FJFJ96ma

— Alexis Goldstein (@alexisgoldstein) April 10, 2018

One reasonably well-reasoned objection came from freelance scribe Parker Molloy:

Things Moby's op-ed doesn't address:

1.) Food deserts
2.) The fact that healthy food can be expensive
3.) The fact that some families on SNAP might not have the time/equipment to prepare healthy foods

— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) April 10, 2018

Food deserts, FYI, are large areas where the only easily available food is processed or full of fat and sugar. Scarily massive swathes of the USA, as it happens.

Anyway, somewhat to his credit, Moby does know what he’s talking about. At least a bit.

“It certainly helped my family. My mother was a single parent who struggled to make ends meet in wealthy Darien, Connecticut, during the 1970s. We relied on food stamps until I was 16.”

Still, Twitter:

dear moby
this is a bad and classist opinion
other people’s bodies are none of yr business
-jss https://t.co/bMpuF9xVpc

— jes skolnik / texas calboy (@modernistwitch) April 10, 2018

So there you go.

If Moby, who released an album last month in case you didn’t notice, achieves nothing else in 2018, uniting Americans in favour of a government-backed initiative surely counts for something.

More about: Moby