• chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    61
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    3 days ago

    “black people are astronomically more likely to be on welfare than white people. So the number of single young white male ‘Brads’ abusing the welfare system is minuscule. Practically non-existent.

    Pretty ridiculously disingenuous and misleading to make this complaint when there are more white people on food stamps than black people.

    dignity of work

    What a joke

      • TheRagingGeek@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        2 days ago

        I as well, it was what opened my eyes in my 20’s that all the bullshit I was fed as a kid was in fact false.

        • Pat_Riot@lemmy.today
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          2 days ago

          It’s nice not needing the help anymore. Transitioning to being not broke wasn’t an easy or quick process, and I certainly couldn’t have done it all on my own, but it was worth it. I’m still a white guy though I try not to hold that against myself.

    • dogdeanafternoon@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 days ago

      When looking at stats, you shouldn’t look at absolute numbers, you need to look at distribution too. According to google US is approximately 59% white, and 13% black, and food stamp numbers are 38% white and 25% black. So there does seem to be truth to if you are black you are more likely to be on food stamps.

      Systemic racism might play a factor here.

      • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        2 days ago

        So there does seem to be truth to if you are black you are more likely to be on food stamps

        Sure but in context that should not matter at all if the question is what demographic is the appropriate choice to represent the typical US welfare recipient. In this case total numbers are more relevant than relative proportion, you’d want the median person.

      • Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        2 days ago

        More than 1/3 of just under 2/3 of the population vs 1/4 of slightly over 1/10 of the population.

        Rough estimates

        White on food stamps: 76.2 million

        Black on food stamps: 11.1 million

        • dogdeanafternoon@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 days ago

          That’s my point though, those numbers are meaningless. What if I gave you these numbers:

          White not on food stamps: 122.6 million

          Black not on food stamps: 33.2 million

          There are zero valid conclusions to be drawn.

          Analyzing the actual numbers, it seems a random black person is 3x more likely to be on food stamps than a random white person in the US.

          (0.25/0.13) / (0.38/0.59) = 2.99

          • Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            2 days ago

            Also, if there are 100 evenly distributed welfare recipients in a room, and you pick one at random, it is more likely they will be white than black.

      • Soggy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        2 days ago

        Systemic racism might play a factor here.

        Might? Centuries of being held down at every turn and prevented from accumulating generational wealth “might” be a factor in modern poverty?

    • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 days ago

      “black people are astronomically more likely to be on welfare than white people. So the number of single young white male ‘Brads’ abusing the welfare system is minuscule. Practically non-existent.

      Pretty ridiculously disingenuous and misleading to make this complaint when there are more white people on food stamps than black people.

      That’s called statistics! Remember, there are 3 types of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

      This is just another rebranding of the “13 50” bullshit in a different trenchcoat.