ABCs "Children of the Mountains" VS Mountain Dew

[CoolBreeze]

ABCs Diane Sawyer has been doing a special on the toothless kids of Appalachia. Her claim (along with local dentists) is that the main reason for the serious tooth decay is the soft drink Mountain Dew. She's really going after the soft drink company every morning and Pepsico while trying to defend itself with logic, is looking worse every day. Tonight on 20/20 she will go underground to a Kentucky coal mine. Most of the report centers around Kentucky and the Appalachians in general.

Here is a webpage that explains the issue and how people have responded, along with a couple of comments:

These people made their OWN CHOICES to live like animals! Like they had something BETTER to do than finish high school? Like what? Sit in a trailer drinking Mt Dew and cooking meth and making children they don't care about?!? I am really mad that tax dollars are used for their welfare checks! I can't afford major brand soda for my kids...and even if I could I wouldn't let them rot their teeth out with it! Those people deserve the life they CHOSE, except they don't deserve public assistance to live their lazy, irresponsible lives! Screw them!
luckymalu 7:01 AM

I am from Summersville,Wv.I had to join the army to get out. There are no jobs. I rode a bike 18 miles a day to go to work to work at a grocery store who would only hire me for 4 hours a day because they couldn't afford to keep insurance on me as a full time employee. I got paid $5.15 an hour. Paychecks were nothing after taxes. Got a education? Forget it honey there ain't a job for you. Business managment degree????? Sorry our manager has had her job for 20 years.That position won't be open until she dies. Sad reality. Sometimes I want to move back home to be closer to family but I know that if I do. then my children will suffer because of it. Also about the bad teeth thing. Alot of people where I am from have well water. There is no florid in it like city water. Hence decay. Also well water has lots of iron it it sometimes making clothing unwearable.It will stain them with red spots that look like dirt. I think thats what I hated about wv the most. You could'nt own any nice clothing.I have lived in many places in my 24 years and I have never seen a place like wv. Never. Its sad. My parents resorted to heavy labor.Junking. Where you go to garbage dumps and collects metal like copper ,alluminum and steel digging through garbage dumps to find stuff to sell. Have you ever heard of anything like this? We still had nothing to show for it. There was just no jobs and we didn't have the money to move. I got out as fast as I could. I had no choice.When I go back to visit and I'm driving through the mountains and the mudd and see trailors dotting the moutain side I think about how much I pity them. They have no idea whats out in the world. elizabethmckinney 2:30 AM
http://www.abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=6845926


Here is a video: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=68621

[genlock]

Damn, I always thought Summersville was kind of a nice area.
Shows what I know.

[AmpedNow]

It's about time "outside" cameras shined their lights into these parts. Appalachia has been overlooked and ridiculed for far too long.

One of the reasons for the crazy reactions by some putting these people down is rooted in shock and denial. People in many other places in the US think that poverty like this was wiped out years ago. When they find out it's not, they don't know what to think.

I have mentioned before about trying to explain the way things are around here to my upper class friends in NoVA. I tried, but they just couldn't get their minds around it. Their realities have always been very different.

Poor Whites in Appalachia have it rough. They have no governmental protection from discrimination like affirmative action, yet are still accused of being "stupid, minority oppressors" by everyone else. The truth is, even minorities have more power than them. They have no power at all.

BTW, this is not about racism. It's about economic realities and social perceptions.

Damn, I always thought Summersville was kind of a nice area.

It is, but you know she's right, unfortunately...

[Big Media]

I checked this out last night. I though she did a pretty good job not making total asses out of them. My heart goes out to some of the families. I know people---good friends of mine---who grew up similar to the subjects in the story. I will also tell you that it was very humbling. It makes me very thankful for what I have and that I am able to provide for my family. I know I won't complain as much about not being able to find anything in the house to eat when in reality, the pantry is full, the fridge is full, and I am just too damn picky.

[AmpedNow]

Word.

I am also incredibly blessed that I've never had to worry about a roof over my head, have the luxury of going out to eat if I don't feel like cooking, and have decent, reliable transportation to go wherever I need to.

But I have known and been around people and poverty like this. That show was heartbreaking to watch, such a sobering reminder. I felt so bad for those little girls, pretty much having to babysit their moms because they were pill heads...

This is why I encourage anyone to get out of here if they possibly can. Even if they leave with just the shirts on their backs, they will likely be much better off for it in the long run.

I personally find it totally inexcusable for this kind of poverty to still exist in this country... But since no one is doing anything about it, leaving if at all possible is the best option.