<div dir="ltr">I like the title they gave to it--<div><br></div><div><h1 class="gmail-title" id="gmail-page-title" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:15px 0px 0px;font-size:2.5em;font-family:Oswald,sans-serif;line-height:1.1;color:rgb(51,51,51);padding-top:4px;border-top:9px solid rgb(34,34,34)">Call to help needy apex of dishonesty</h1><div id="gmail-content-content" class="gmail-clear-block" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><div class="gmail-col-md-12" style="box-sizing:border-box;min-height:1px;padding-right:15px;padding-left:15px;float:left;width:710px"><div id="gmail-node-1662604" class="gmail-node" style="box-sizing:border-box"><form id="gmail-bookmark" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px"></form><span class="gmail-submitted" style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:Oswald,sans-serif;margin-bottom:20px;margin-top:10px">Mon, 12/10/2018 - 10:41pm | <a href="http://www.news-gazette.com/users/digitalmedia" title="View user profile." style="box-sizing:border-box;background:0px 0px;color:rgb(19,41,75);text-decoration-line:none">The News-Gazette</a></span><div class="gmail-p402_premium" style="box-sizing:border-box"><div class="gmail-content" style="box-sizing:border-box"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 1.2em;font-family:Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;font-size:17px;line-height:1.5em">In the recent "Another Thanksgiving" editorial, the editors write that in spite of "general" affluence, "too many people suffer from a variety of maladies that range from poverty and family dysfunction to physical and mental illness. ... Let's be sure as the Christmas season approaches to keep those people in our hopes and prayers."</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 1.2em;font-family:Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;font-size:17px;line-height:1.5em">The assumption is that "those people" are not among those "general" individuals reading this editorial.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 1.2em;font-family:Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;font-size:17px;line-height:1.5em">Given the expense of a newspaper and its lack of political interest in "those people," this is likely mostly correct.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 1.2em;font-family:Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;font-size:17px;line-height:1.5em">Nevertheless, it's rude to talk about others in a room in which they might be present, no less so in an objectifying and condescending manner.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 1.2em;font-family:Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;font-size:17px;line-height:1.5em">Moreover, poverty is not a "malady" but a structural condition enforced by radical social inequality. This inequality adversely affects at least half of us: those who are on the short end of federal policies, historically supported by News-Gazette editors, that have seen four decades of de-industrialization, "free trade," deunionization, enforced unemployment and decreases in federal and state funding for social programs — all in the midst of trillions for criminal wars, supported by the editors, and fought largely by "those people."</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 1.2em;font-family:Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;font-size:17px;line-height:1.5em">Certainly, the other "maladies" mentioned will always be with us. However, the risk factors associated with them would be significantly decreased by the very feasible elimination of poverty, the existence of which is a political choice made by predatory capitalists and their acolytes in the media and academia. In this context, appeals to "Christian" charity are at best disingenuous.</p><div class="gmail-insertAdRight" style="box-sizing:border-box;float:right;margin:10px;clear:both"><div id="gmail-div-gpt-ad-1392329065879-20" style="box-sizing:border-box;text-align:center;margin:0px auto;width:300px;height:250px"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/4073248/NG_Stories_MR_0__container__" style="box-sizing:border-box;border:0pt none"></div></div></div><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 1.2em;font-family:Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;font-size:17px;line-height:1.5em">DAVID GREEN</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 1.2em;font-family:Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;font-size:17px;line-height:1.5em">Champaign</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>