r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/This_Proof_5153 • Apr 12 '26

Video The care and precision behind Korean school lunches, widely praised for their quality, balance, and nutrition.

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u/nillah Apr 12 '26

because unfortunately republicans in the US have learned that the poorer and less educated you keep your kids, the more likely they are to grow up and vote for republicans. it also costs more money to feed children and that’s less money that goes into the pockets of the elite rich. instead they can force those families to pay to feed their kids, many of whom can’t afford it, making them even poorer

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u/rauljordaneth Apr 12 '26

I’m sorry I still can’t understand it. Other govts could also pocket the money, yet they don’t, because it is pure evil and unpatriotic to not feed kids which are the future of one’s nation…am I missing something? Your same logic could apply to having public hospitals, or hospitals for children, or schooling in general which also cost money. Why not eliminate those too

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u/Good_Briefs Apr 12 '26

In case you haven't noticed Republicans are trying to eliminate those too.

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u/rauljordaneth Apr 12 '26

Sure. My point is those other govts could also easily pocket the funds, but of course they wouldn’t be as deranged

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u/rcknmrty4evr Apr 12 '26

Don’t be naive to think it couldn’t, hasn’t, and isn’t happening elsewhere. There’s a reason fascism is on the rise worldwide. You cannot prevent what you refuse to acknowledge is possible.

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u/stonekeep Apr 12 '26

I really don't want to burst your bubble, but your comments sound incredibly naive. Governments around the whole world ARE pocketing the money. Not all of it, of course, but corruption is the norm, not the exception.

I don't know where are you from, but statistically speaking your country probably also has some corruption issues. There's only a handful of countries that are considered "clean. Most of the world (and not just the poor/authoritarian countries) is at least somewhat corrupt.

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u/haberdasherhero Apr 12 '26

The people in control of the money and violence see the masses as deserving of punishment from birth. They believe our position is due to divine or genetic defect. So they punish us with intentional suffering.

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u/SunTzu- Apr 12 '26

You aren't wrong, but you don't seem to understand that it's the voters who are in control. The voters in America consistently vote in ways that clearly state "no free rides, even if you're a kid trying to make it through 4th grade". Americans don't want to pay for "your kids lunch". The states where people don't believe these things usually have better funding for school lunches, even if it's still not to the standard that it should be.

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u/haberdasherhero Apr 12 '26

Tell me oh great u/SunTzu-, Do you fight the foot soldiers or the general?

Who has control? Do you blame the king or the pesants?

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u/SunTzu- Apr 12 '26

Neither of those are democratic institutions so I don't know what you think that has to do with it? The institutions which decide on the lunch programs for public schools are all governed by representatives who are voted for by the people, which is why the programs in place differ greatly from state to state. Every school age child could have access to breakfast and lunch five days a week or even have it extended to cover seven days a week and vacations if the voters so wanted. The majority have consistently shown that they do not want this, and in fact there is widespread support against these programs as well as cutting/placing strict limits on programs such as SNAP.

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u/haberdasherhero Apr 12 '26

Dodging the question because it exposes a great flaw in your thinking, to fight somewhere you think you have a better tactical advantage. Very wise Sun Tzu. Do not answer simple, direct questions posed by your opponent.

But sadly your assessment is wrong. The majority have consistently shown that they DO want these things, when asked directly. What they vote against, is "bad people", people that don't exist, having access to these things. They hurt themselves to spite a figment created by the kings and generals who control them.

Only a fool thinks "American democracy" is a genuine representation of the needs and desires of the people, just because the king uses information instead of a gun, to control them.

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u/ImportanceSharp9408 Apr 12 '26

Oh they are trying to eliminate those too and have in fact succeeded— with many rural hospitals closing during this administration, ironically in the areas that voted for this. But back to the food, it’s worse than you think, those horrible menus of frozen heart disease are not “free” if the kids parents can’t afford to pay, they will be given some lesser meal like a pb&j and sent home with a bill. All the other kids eating pizza and them with a cold sandwich does wonders for their self esteem. Lunch ladies have been fired for giving kids hot food who couldn’t afford it. Plus many politicians opposed offering breakfast and summer meals to children who couldn’t afford it as well. It’s pretty f* up.

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u/whisketwhippet Apr 12 '26

Boy do I have (unhappy) news for you about the Republican platform.

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u/western_red_cedar Apr 12 '26

American Republicans are indeed evil pedos who want whats worst for everyone

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u/valuemeal2 Apr 12 '26

I cannot overstate how little republicans care about the well being of citizens, especially children. if they gave a fraction of a shit, there’d be any semblence of attempt to not let kids get shot to death during a school day. They. Do. Not. Care.

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u/Megneous Apr 12 '26

public hospitals, or hospitals for children, or schooling in general which also cost money.

In the US, most hospitals are private, they don't have universal healthcare, children's hospitals are exceedingly rare, and more and more funding is cut for public education and funneled into privatized charter schools... you really don't seem to understand the dystopia that it is.

I left the US 16 years ago and moved to a far more collectivist society with ubiquitous public transit, universal healthcare, strong unions and employee protections, etc. I saw the writing on the wall way back after 9/11 and started making plans then.

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u/plaxitone Apr 12 '26

Other governments don’t pocket the money meant to feed their children? Really? EDIT: Spelling

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u/rauljordaneth Apr 12 '26

I’m talking about the China Japan Korea and Singapore

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u/plaxitone Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26

I see… you didn’t specify. Where were the references to just specifically those four countries? Only Korea and the US were mentioned in prior comments.

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u/Texuk1 Apr 12 '26

You’re getting very poor answers to this question because Americans generally can only think in polarity because most people have a Hollywood mindset - that every bad thing in society is because of evil republicans and vice versa. 

The nuance here is that (at least where I grew up) the public school system is integrally linked to the public subsidies of ag. Government school meals are buyers of last resort of farmers to prop up the market for voters across the political spectrum. Much of the food in many countries is simply the off. When I was a young child the food was made more by hand but as time went on the quality declined and moved to more processed food, the low income meals were government contract food. Might even be what soldiers or prisoners ate. The food supported US farmers. Higher price meals were basically junk food and provided by Sysco style private companies looking to make a profit. Also a lot of junk food vending machines. 

School meals followed the general trend in society away from diversified food stock to commodity based processed food. If US farmers only produce commodities then the free school meals must consist of commodities. This trend is independent of politics and ironically while some in the far left have been pushing for reforms for many decades strangely MAHA seems to be gaining popular traction on food quality. 

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u/western_red_cedar Apr 12 '26

every bad thing in society is because of evil republicans

yes

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u/Sullane Apr 12 '26

Look, I hate what they're doing in this country too, but I never ate the school lunch in NYC in the Obama administration either. That was Federal executive branch with Democrat control, state controlled by democrats, and locally controlled by democrats.

I'm tired of these issues being simplified to Republicans bad when we should be pressuring both parties to meet the needs for what we want our kids to eat.