The New York Times has been accused of fanning the flames of classism and divisiveness after a bizarre ‘quiz’ asked readers to match photos of refrigerator interiors to supporters of President Donald Trump or Democrat Joe Biden.
The “hundreds” of fridge interiors shown in Wednesday’s online article-quiz ranged from wildly stereotypical to cryptic. The most correctly guessed were the supposed Trump supporter’s fridge filled with beer and Kool-Aid and another Trump supporter’s overflowing with a giant bucket of fried chicken, a jug of sweet tea, and a super-size container of margarine. Biden supporters’ fridges on the other hand sported Brita water filters, bagels, and pricey organic milk (of cow and soy varieties).
But readers were confused by a Biden fridge packed to bursting with mayonnaise and milk, a Trump fridge dominated by Chobani yogurt, ricotta cheese and fruit juices, and a Biden fridge that was mostly empty except for a handful of containers and a big red ketchup dispenser.
Despite the stereotype-defying fridge contents, the Times highlighted incriminating “details” from Trump fridges (Cool Whip and Velveeta - highly processed substitutes for mayonnaise and cheese, respectively - alongside containers of potato salad) and Biden fridges (expensive yogurts, pickles). Even while admitting its own readers were frequently tripped up by the food hoards, the paper pointed to results from a recent survey indicating Biden supporters liked Grey Poupon mustard and Minute-Maid orange juice while Trump fans were more inclined to feast on Ken’s salad dressing and Pace picante sauce.
Also on rt.com Is this what democracy looks like? Rich donors pack Biden’s campaign chest to seduce poor spurned by Trump and both partiesMany rolled their eyes at the lack of substance to the feature, questioning why the Times would waste space on such a frivolous topic less than a week ahead of an election the paper itself had described as the most important in voters’ lifetimes. “I am so sorry I stopped subscribing,” one user sarcastically tweeted, admitting that at least “it does beat banging the drums for the Iraq War, or obsessing about Hillary’s e-mails.”
More pointed criticism focused on why the Times felt the need to divide Americans by the contents of their refrigerators, as many interpreted the quiz as throwing shade on the poor. “So the middle fridge is welfare huh??” one user guessed.
Plenty cracked jokes about telltale items (or the lack thereof)…
…though some poked equal opportunity fun.
While a few Times defenders suggested the idea of the quiz was actually to force coastal lefties to come to terms with what they had in common with the average Trump supporter - i.e. the contents of their fridge - the article accompanying the quiz seemed loath to allow such a conclusion to be drawn. While it admitted some 12 percent of respondents “did not have access to all of the food they needed in the previous two weeks” and acknowledged “empty or nearly empty fridges were split roughly evenly between Trump and Biden supporters,” these admissions were only slipped in at the very end of the article.
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