Food Bank Logic

[Strontium Dog]

It's really brilliant propaganda by the left

1. Lefties open lots of food banks
2. Lefties claim that rise in number of food banks is proof that government is evil
3. More and more people believe that government is evil

Are there any other similarly Machiavellian schemes out there that can hold a candle to this?

[pErvinalia]

Huh? Lefties don't tend to think government is evil. That's usually Liberals and Libertarians.

[Svartalf]

but the tory and republican gummints ARE evil.

[cronus]

If you don't want pigeons don't feed them.

[Brian Peacock]

It's really brilliant propaganda by the left

1. Lefties open lots of food banks
2. Lefties claim that rise in number of food banks is proof that government is evil
3. More and more people believe that government is evil

Are there any other similarly Machiavellian schemes out there that can hold a candle to this?

That's clever But it does rather depend on whether those providing foodbank services are doing so to forward a 'Leftie' political agenda or if they're doing it for other reasons, like as an act of Christian charity, or as an act of kindness or conscience. This is clever because it specifically describes foodbanks as the political propaganda tool of a certain political grouping regardless of whether that grouping are involved in running foodbanks or not (though I guess it might also imply that motivations to certain types of ethical action are fundamentally 'Leftie' in and of themselves). It's clever because, thus defined, the mere existence of foodbanks appears to justify the point without the apparent need for further qualification.

The largest provider of foodbank services in the UK is the Trussell Trust, who exists entirely on voluntary donations and can hardly be described as 'Lefties' unless, that is, feeding hungry people is a specifically 'Leftie' thing to do.

https://www.trusselltrust.org/about/mission-and-values/

[NineBerry]

As a genuine leftie I hate foodbank operators. They alleviate the suffering of the poor masses and do thereby prevent the critical mass of dissatisfaction that is required for the revolution to take place.

[Brian Peacock]

[NineBerry]

Religious memeplexes often hate the wellfare-state, because with the lack of a wellfare-state, soup-kitchens and so forth operated by the religious organizations of the memeplex help spreading its memes.

[Brian Peacock]

You mean in a 'one prayer per potato' or 'a sacrament for a sausage' kind of way?

[NineBerry]

There have been several reports in the past about religious institutions forcing needy guests to participate in religious rituals in exchange for food.

[Brian Peacock]

Krishna-Rama.

[Seth]

There have been several reports in the past about religious institutions forcing needy guests to participate in religious rituals in exchange for food.

Yeah? So what? You want my potato you have to listen to my sermon. You don't want my sermon, go find another potato. Sounds perfectly fair and reasonable exercise in free speech to me.

Religion, you see, is generally about lifting people out of poverty not binding them to dependence upon the state forever like leftist state welfare programs are, and to do that you have to get them to listen to the message somehow. Seems like a harmless quid pro quo arrangement for private religious charities to expect.

However, I will point out that religious institutions that run soup kitchens and food banks that accept public funds of any kind are legally prohibited from imposing such conditions, and most soup kitchens in the US do accept local, state or federal subsidies of one form or another, so such requirements are few and far between these days.

[Seth]

Religious memeplexes often hate the wellfare-state, because with the lack of a wellfare-state, soup-kitchens and so forth operated by the religious organizations of the memeplex help spreading its memes.

Damned right, and good thing too, given how fundamentally evil the nihilism of atheism and socialism are.

[Feck]

Have any of you actually been hungry ?

[pErvinalia]

The OP still makes no sense. Not sure what the rest of you have been babbling on about.