# Quick! We need smelling salts! Asuka's got the vapors! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 9, 2018, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868 "2018-05-09T16:50:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/1 "2018-05-09T16:50:50Z")
So our friend **Asuka** has dropped this stinking pile over in IMHO: > [@Homeless immigrant with no money to her name spends $50 on pizzas, what?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/1): > > [I read this article](https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/01/americas/mom-migrant-caravan-asylum/index.html) and was immediately thrown for a loop when I came to this passage. I can’t be the only one confused by this. > > > [@](#): > > > > On the last Sunday of April, Hernandez was standing in a windy walkway outside the US border crossing facility, when a passerby recognized her from CNN and gave her a bill that she tucked away in her pocket. > > > > After he left, she unraveled the note and was shocked that it was $50. > > > > “Pizza!” yelled her older son, Omar. > > > > Hernandez, a fellow mother from the caravan, Tesla Rich, and Omar hailed a cab to a Domino’s franchise on Avenida Revolución. They ordered two large pepperonis – $5 each – plus a ham and cheese pizza – a favorite of her other son, Jonathan – and some fries and wings. > > Note, that has to be $50 US since the numbers wouldn’t match peso currency conversation rates at all (and fits with the $5 pizza thing). So basically a woman and a friend immediately spent all the money they had just been given for 3 pizzas, french fries and buffalo wings (along with a cab ride to and from) for about 5 people. And then later they’re seen to be begging for blankets and supplies. > > Why would they get wings and french fries with their pizzas first of all? Shouldn’t those 3 pizzas be enough? The article doesn’t mention them sharing the pizzas with others besides the initial 5 people (and if they had shared the food among others the article would have most likely mentioned it to show how good of a person she is) I can understand getting pizzas since they’re relatively cheap for already prepared food but it seems like 2 large pizzas by themselves should have filled everyone up. Plus those wings had to be about $7 American (since Dominos wings aren’t cheap) for so much less food so why not just get another pizza if you really need that much food? And why french fries on top?! How many calories do these 5 people possibly need? > > Reading the article they apparently weren’t starving, they hadn’t eaten much but they were still getting 2 meals a day each on their journey so it’s not like they needed to bulk up fast. It just seems like the worlds dumbest move when you know you’re going to face more hardship in the future and you don’t even save any for later. > > I actually went and shared this article with a relative who was a Mexican undocumented immigrant who went through a similar journey with children and even he was completely flabbergasted at the woman’s sheer waste of money. When he came over he saved every single peso and penny he found because he knew he would desperately need them later on. This woman is buying $40 in pizzas and then giving her kids money for crane games as well. > > This may sound like a rant but I’m curious if anyone else had a similar reaction upon reading this. Why yes, Virginia, it does sound like a rant. A rant from a shitty, entitled person who apparently can’t see the humanity in other people. There are few things in this world that can make a person feel sub-human like hunger can. Especially when they have children to care for and their ability to do that is in jeopardy. Since the OP says they read the article, I’m sure these parts were simply overlooked rather than conveniently ignored. For **Asuka’s** convenience I’ve bolded the important bits:: > [@](#): > > All had left their homes and **scrounged for food** and braved the rain and the chill to make it to the US border crossing And: > [@](#): > > after a **month on the road** And: > [@](#): > > Hernandez had come 3,000 miles to get to this place, **two small boys in tow as a third child, in just its second trimester, grew in her belly.** And: > [@](#): > > Then, rain began to fall. The women hauled the blankets, the backpacks, the extra pairs of shoes, the children up **under a bridge** walkway lit by bright floodlights I’m not good at long, expletive-filled screeds. Hell, I don’t remember even pitting anyone before. But \*\*Asuka’s \*\*OP hits home for me. I work with adults who never finished high school and are now attempting their GED. Most are unemployed, many live with relatives or do the sofa circuit, and none of them are financially stable. But most like to occasionally buy Starbucks and Subway sandwiches from the strip mall a few blocks from our campus. One principal reason they do this was put so succinctly by **Alessan** in the other thread: > [@Homeless immigrant with no money to her name spends $50 on pizzas, what?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/4): > > Maybe they just wanted to feel like normal people for once. Exactly. Back to the subject of \*\*Asuka’s \*\* ire. Here is a young woman who is pregnant and is travelling with two kids in a convoy of similarly desperate people. Food has been difficult to come by and all of them are hungry. After a month of miserable travel, as she’s waiting at the border she’s forced to—quite literally—live under a bridge. As she’s waiting a kind passerby hands her some extra cash, to do with as she pleases. And **Asuka** faults her for wanting to buy some shitty $5 pizza to feed her hungry children. I think it’s telling that when this woman was given some money the first thing her kids thought of was food and not, say, toys. **Asuka** , consider pulling your head out of your ass and having a bit of empathy for your fellow man (or woman, in this case). ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/2 "2018-05-09T17:04:55Z")
The ham and cheese pizza, did they order it topped with pineapple? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/3 "2018-05-09T17:11:35Z")
How dare those uppity brown interloping peasants spend good American money on the ambrosia of the American Elite! I’m at a loss to say what **Asuka** thinks they should spend the money on. Maybe some of the hard bitter bread of desperate bondage, which is all they evidently deserve. Screw those children who are happy to eat a very typically American “kid’s favorite food.” I fancy myself cynical, but I’m gobsmacked by **Asuka** ’s post. Maybe we were just being trolled? It’s terrible to fall back to that, but the alternative is worse: **Asuka** really meant his rant sincerely. > [@Lancia](#): > > **Asuka** , consider pulling your head out of your ass and having a bit of empathy for your fellow man (or woman, in this case). Actually, think of the children\*. The ones who enjoyed a treat because of the kindness of a stranger. \*(Hah! I finally get to use that in a way that isn’t faux-outraged moral panic!) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/4 "2018-05-09T17:29:50Z")
If I was there and decided to donate $50, I would think prepared food like pizza is the best bet. It’s not like they have a place to cook anything. Nothing wrong in my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/5 "2018-05-09T17:37:03Z")
This clearly supports the American belief that money should never be given to the poor. Simply because they might squander it on things like food for their children. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/6 "2018-05-09T17:41:39Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > The ham and cheese pizza, did they order it topped with pineapple? Because, as everybody well knows, pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza. So if that’s how they ordered it, I’m leaning towards cutting Asuka some slack. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/7 "2018-05-09T17:49:06Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > I’m at a loss to say what **Asuka** thinks they should spend the money on. Let them eat the grapes of wrath. > [@](#): > > “…and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.” > ― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/8 "2018-05-09T18:00:12Z")
If you’re desperately poor, what can you realistically do with fifty dollars? You’re not going to buy stocks or start up a business or put a down payment on a car or a house. You’re not going to be able to pay for a training class or a medical procedure. In other words, fifty dollars is not enough to provide you with any long term solutions to your problems. So the question is what short term things do you spend it on. You could go to the dollar store and buy a week’s worth of food. Or you could go and eat some pizza. Either way, the money will soon be spent and next week you’ll be hungry and scrounging for food like you were last week. I can see somebody deciding that one day of eating well is better than one week of eating slightly less poorly than usual. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/9 "2018-05-09T18:05:33Z")
reminds me of some guy whose comment I read on one of our local news sites a few years ago, ranting about how awful it was that gas stations and convenience stores had signs saying they accepted bridge card, as though people were buying gas and smokes with it. When I pointed out that it was because those places sold food items which could be bought w/ bridge card, he refused to back down from his indignance. people really, really don’t want to admit they might be wrong about something. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/10 "2018-05-09T18:15:01Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If you’re desperately poor, what can you realistically do with fifty dollars? You’re not going to buy stocks or start up a business or put a down payment on a car or a house. You’re not going to be able to pay for a training class or a medical procedure. In other words, fifty dollars is not enough to provide you with any long term solutions to your problems. > > So the question is what short term things do you spend it on. You could go to the dollar store and buy a week’s worth of food. Or you could go and eat some pizza. Either way, the money will soon be spent and next week you’ll be hungry and scrounging for food like you were last week. > > I can see somebody deciding that one day of eating well is better than one week of eating slightly less poorly than usual. Pretty much what I would say. Fifty bucks isn’t really going to change your situation significantly. But it can at least boost your morale and (especially) that of your kids. The kids may remember this for a long time and it may motivate them to put up with other hardships better. This struck me as particularly idiotic: > [@](#): > > I can understand getting pizzas since they’re relatively cheap for already prepared food but it seems like 2 large pizzas by themselves should have filled everyone up. Plus those wings had to be about $7 American (since Dominos wings aren’t cheap) for so much less food so why not just get another pizza if you really need that much food? And why french fries on top?! How many calories do these 5 people possibly need? So you’re fucking quibbling about the menu choices of people who have been on the road for a month? When it’s a matter of a few dollars? WTF? As for blankets, they had some already, and they may not need them for more than a night or two, so buying more for a short time would indeed have been wasteful. Besides that, there may not have been anyplace to buy some nearby. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/11 "2018-05-09T18:24:58Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > reminds me of some guy whose comment I read on one of our local news sites a few years ago, ranting about how awful it was that gas stations and convenience stores had signs saying they accepted bridge card, as though people were buying gas and smokes with it. When I pointed out that it was because those places sold food items which could be bought w/ bridge card, he refused to back down from his indignance. > > people really, really don’t want to admit they might be wrong about something. And they really really don’t want to give up their hate. In situations like you’re describing I often suspect that the reason given for the hate (acceptance of bridge cards by a gas station) is more an excuse for the hate rather than the real underlying reason. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/12 "2018-05-09T18:29:29Z")
Shameful rant by someone showing a lot of internal anger and zero empathy and compassion. Shodan should be in any second to defend her. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/13 "2018-05-09T18:53:57Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Shameful rant by someone showing a lot of internal anger and zero empathy and compassion. > > Shodan should be in any second to defend her. I don’t see **Shodan** defending her. I really can’t make sense of **Asuka** ’s post. Ignoring her motivations and feelings, like many others I’m at a loss figuring out what she thinks the mother should have done with the money that would have been more sensible. Smaller pizzas and no fries so that she could buy another small pizza the next day? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/14 "2018-05-09T18:57:12Z")
Just the usual self-made expert with an opinion about how someone else should have spent their money. Having gone through a period of poverty and bankruptcy, I know how important a good meal or a treat can be to your morale and mental health. I don’t have any patience for people who blow up at the very idea of someone poor having something nice. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/15 "2018-05-09T19:11:39Z")
Who is **Asuka** , anyway? It seems like all the threads that piss me off lately are started by him/her. Intentional? Troll or just an asshole? This is an extremely well-deserved pitting. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/16 "2018-05-09T19:12:12Z")
I was in line about 4 carts back in the grocery store. The woman checking out had a Snap/EBT card ( food stamps, I guess). The lady and man in front of me were complaining rudely and loudly about these damn people and their free food and ‘why don’t they get a job’…‘living off the backs of working people’! I was mortified for the lady with card. By the looks of it she was buying food for kids. I saw no reason to ridicule the lady. When she left, the man in front of me turned around and said to me “She’s probably gonna sell that for that crackdrug stuff” ( his words). I looked at him in the face and said “You don’t know that and I think you are a rude bully”. He just harumphed me. See, if they cannot see a bad thing they just make one up to fit the scene. You can’t win. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/17 "2018-05-09T19:20:18Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Just the usual self-made expert with an opinion about how someone else should have spent their money. > > Having gone through a period of poverty and bankruptcy, I know how important a good meal or a treat can be to your morale and mental health. I don’t have any patience for people who blow up at the very idea of someone poor having something nice. People who are lazy or immoral are poor, therefore, people who are poor are lazy and immoral. Lazy immoral people do not deserve to have nice things. They should be grateful that society allows them to eke out a bare survival. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/18 "2018-05-09T19:21:18Z")
And poor Trump supporters are merely temporarily embarrassed millionaires. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/19 "2018-05-09T19:26:36Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > Who is **Asuka** , anyway? It seems like all the threads that piss me off lately are started by him/her. Intentional? Troll or just an asshole? > > This is an extremely well-deserved pitting. Don’t know, but I put them on ignore for some reason, which means their irritation to post value ratio was high enough that I decided to not bother. I can remember clicking to actually view their posts twice. I did go on a rash of putting Trump supporters on ignore when they were being assholes after the election. Maybe one of those? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868/20 "2018-05-09T19:38:45Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > As for blankets, they had some already, and they may not need them for more than a night or two, so buying more for a short time would indeed have been wasteful. Besides that, there may not have been anyplace to buy some nearby. Another factor is that when you live on the streets and have to carry everything you own, it doesn’t make sense to buy a lot of material possessions. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-we-need-smelling-salts-asukas-got-the-vapors/813868.md?page=2)