http://halfchangedworld.com/2012/09/the-welfare-waiver-controversy/ dc mom/policy wonk's musings on work, parenthood, gender, politics, and the rest of life Sat, 01 Dec 2012 14:35:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://halfchangedworld.com/2012/09/the-welfare-waiver-controversy/comment-page-1/#comment-6682 Sheila Sun, 02 Sep 2012 22:59:02 +0000 http://halfchangedworld.com/?p=1210#comment-6682 Once a long, long time ago when I was a teenager growing up on Capitol Hill, I worked in an ice cream shop that was on the corner of 3d and Massachusetts, right in shadow of the Heritage Foundation; we had a flavor called Mozambique that was sort of a spicy vanilla. While Congress was out of session and the folks at Heritage had too much time on their hands, they decided--based on no information whatsoever but the name of the flavor--that we were raising money for the communist regime then in power there. We found this out when people from around the country started calling us in outrage about this fundraising they'd been told we were doing. Facts aren't relevant when there are people already simmering with outrage about something they're imagining is happening behind their back: they really *want* to have that outrage confirmed. If it worked for ice cream and communism, how much more readily will it work for a Black president and welfare? Once a long, long time ago when I was a teenager growing up on Capitol Hill, I worked in an ice cream shop that was on the corner of 3d and Massachusetts, right in shadow of the Heritage Foundation; we had a flavor called Mozambique that was sort of a spicy vanilla. While Congress was out of session and the folks at Heritage had too much time on their hands, they decided–based on no information whatsoever but the name of the flavor–that we were raising money for the communist regime then in power there. We found this out when people from around the country started calling us in outrage about this fundraising they’d been told we were doing. Facts aren’t relevant when there are people already simmering with outrage about something they’re imagining is happening behind their back: they really *want* to have that outrage confirmed. If it worked for ice cream and communism, how much more readily will it work for a Black president and welfare?

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