this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2026
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[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 60 points 1 week ago (3 children)

“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

[–] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I have been a white man who needed assistance and turned to "welfare" to survive.

[–] TheRagingGeek@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week 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.

[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Congratulations on your transition! How do you feel now?

[–] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.

[–] zedgeist@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Will you hold it against me? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[–] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 2 points 1 week ago

I'll have to ask my wife, y'know, out of respect for her.

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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.

[–] dogdeanafternoon@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago (3 children)

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 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

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 4 points 1 week 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 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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?

[–] dogdeanafternoon@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not everything is literal my guy. Try reading between the lines.

[–] Soggy@lemmy.world -3 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] dogdeanafternoon@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

Holy shit lol this gave me a chuckle. Thanks for that.