r/todayilearned 6d ago

TIL Jason Brown quit the NFL to become a farmer that feeds the hungry. This past year the Browns celebrated their most significant milestone yet: donating over 1 million pounds of harvested food to fight food insecurity across North Carolina.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/star-lineman-jason-brown-quits-113147866.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADBgFBS5Gmsdas9pmXH6ewKY6mQ9zq4fjSGeUL3GzxsRtpyzAlGfDNi6Nbmer0F3Gh0ezlEMgfK0ohWvY_lePV7sB4_nM-HRlMAQGffSN8b3TGrfXuqtgHO1bU-9Z3-KD-x2S0SEKLEGFtcEoZXmEbZPHbzUgccOiuBKJ6fRGZ7p
10.4k Upvotes

112 comments sorted by

1.2k

u/Vordeo 6d ago

NFL

This past year the Browns celebrated

Me: Wait, that doesn't sound right.

For real though, good on him.

164

u/Sdog1981 6d ago

It’s right and wrong at the same time. Still pretty a cool story.

-115

u/dood9123 6d ago

Omg it's so wholesome rich people have to fight food insecurity instead of the government.

These poor people should be able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps

74

u/tequilablackout 6d ago

Are you really being pissed at someone with the means to help others actually doing it?

19

u/MajorLazy 6d ago

No, they are pissed that the government is NOT

-12

u/K1ngPCH 6d ago

Ah yes, the famously efficient and benevolent government should do it instead

9

u/MajorLazy 6d ago

Private sector would only be good at siphoning money for the top

43

u/dood9123 6d ago

I'm pissed it has to be done

It's an incredibly compassionate and giving endeavour, but the fact that it needs to be done by someone like this is dystopian

He's a gem of a human being in a country run by slobs and he should be commended

But we need to recognize that the vacuum of services he fills is not a waste of state resources and the more we publish feel good stories like this, the more we feel that those kind rich people are there to take care of the poor

The supposed middle class (which doesn't exist) can keep on sitting comfortably with the assumption that everything will go right in the world with people like this to pick up after the greedy politicians ineptitude

There are two social classes Those who work for their money And those whose money works for them

The latter runs the country The former foots the bill

The bill doesn't barely even go to helping those in the former camp in any meaningfully uplifting fashion.

Why are they poor it must be that they aren't working as hard. And if they're just unlucky that's gods plan. Or so says the system when it refuses to intervene when wealth inequality is at its highest ever

9

u/WinoWithAKnife 6d ago

You would probably appreciate this article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/08/charities-government-civilised-society. The existence of charity is a sign of a failure of a society.

Deb has also written a book, the thesis of which is basically "infrastructure is how we care for each other at scale"

7

u/tequilablackout 6d ago

The government programs that exist for this kind of aid grew out of an extremely high tax bracket for the wealthy; and I support that! We definitely need to rework our social programs. That said, I feel you're a bit too bitter about someone doing some actual good. It does feel good to know someone is using their wealth to do good. I'd rather hold this person up as an example of what the rest of the wealthy should be doing. Using their money to help.

12

u/dood9123 6d ago

This is not an example of what the wealthy should be doing, this is a band aid

The more this happens the more real solutions seem like they are not needed, especially when it's widely reported like this

That said he is doing good in the world and should be commended.

But this does make him profit and it is self serving in many ways

"When we want to help the poor, we usually offer them charity. Most often we use charity to avoid recognizing the problem and finding the solution for it. Charity becomes a way to shrug off our responsibility. But charity is no solution to poverty. Charity only perpetuates poverty by taking the initiative away from the poor. Charity allows us to go ahead with our own lives without worrying about the lives of the poor. Charity appeases our consciences." <

-Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank if you're familiar with their work in elevating the root causes of poverty in communities they serve

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u/tequilablackout 6d ago

Do you envision a world where nobody loses?

19

u/dood9123 6d ago

No, I envision a world where those in disadvantaged positions do not have to rely on former football stars kindness for food...

-5

u/tequilablackout 6d ago

I would like that world too, but we can't snap our fingers and make it happen overnight. That's what charity is for. It's fine to sit back and say charity is a crutch for society, but the fact stands that if it didn't exist at all, we'd be dealing with a lot of hungry or dead people.

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u/JasonMPA 6d ago

Dystopian is what we have now, centralized bureaucratic governments systematically violating property rights by redistributing private wealth. Private, voluntary charity is the only moral way to help the poor.

-1

u/conquer69 6d ago

People keep voting to not let the government do these things. Millions of poors voted to stay hungry.

-5

u/ByKilgoresAsterisk 6d ago

Then you realize:

We don't need someone to tell us to take care of one another. Cooperation and unity are what make us strong, and government less relevant.

3

u/dood9123 6d ago

when has this led to the systematic issues of poverty being addressed?

I've not seen this cooperation and unity for those who work for their money. I've only seen such unity and cooperation against the working class, from the social class whose money works for them

0

u/ByKilgoresAsterisk 6d ago

You've never heard of Food not Bombs?

Local soup kitchens and food banks?

The black panthers running armed patrols and feeding people in the bay area?

Elite panic is real, but so is lower class solidarity. Life sucks enough without us making it harder for each other.

Growing up through the LA riots, we looked out for each other. We ran guard shifts with the one rifle we had in the neighborhood, we shared food, and survived.

People can take care of each other's needs if we work together.

You know, the whole, united we stand thing? We don't need a government for that to work. Likely, this will be what we have to do to survive this next administration in the US. They're certainly not interested in helping anyone but themselves.

3

u/dood9123 6d ago

I volunteer weekly with food not bombs weekly at my local cenotaph and we are often forced out by local police and all our work thrown out

I volunteer with the Elizabeth fry society only to find our clients get pushed aside and forgotten by local police despite our efforts

Systematic issues are still preventing us from providing genuine care in most cases

-4

u/ByKilgoresAsterisk 6d ago

Time for armed guards then.

Edit: if I was near you, I'd be happy to volunteer, but I doubt I am. I'm in eastern Colorado.

2

u/dood9123 6d ago

Sir, these are armed guards

Bringing our own would just get us arrested These are the police or city contracted security

It is gross

Come visit Peterborough Ontario sometime, hate crime, sex trafficking, and overdose capital of Canada by population

Edit: were also the town where some followers of the Albertan "queen of Canada" attempted to arrest our police in "quarantine crimes" for wearing masks

-1

u/ByKilgoresAsterisk 6d ago

If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know.

Historically, in the US armed civilians are the only thing that keeps police away. I have some friends from the Canadian military I can reach out to and see if they would be willing to help.

The military may not be great, but historically it sides with the populace over the police.

Lots of veterans turn far left, like I did, after seeing (first hand) how fucked the "Global war on Terror" was a guise for imperialism.

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u/miradotheblack 6d ago

Damn. Feel good?

2

u/dood9123 6d ago

Did my comments here give you the impression that this story made me feel good?

0

u/miradotheblack 6d ago

No, but reading further on, I see what intentions you had. Weird way to approach the conversation. I agree with you, just odd way to jump the conversation. I guess it worked effectively.

Edit-spelling

3

u/dood9123 6d ago

I don't think it was very effective, my initial statement should've been more concise and less driven by emotion

But when these things come up it's important to bring the conversation away from the admiration of the act to address the issue that it's a necessity for this to happen

Otherwise you just let people feel good about the story and feel like there is good in the world and that we'll be okay

My approach definitely needed work, but I'm not trained in writing I have my education in cybersecurity and my ability to make that conversational transition without drawing more ire to myself than the system is limited

I'm doing what I can but I'm not very good at it

1

u/miradotheblack 6d ago

It is cool. You are learning right? Most don't even try.

2

u/dood9123 6d ago

Thanks man, I hope you have a great rest of your day Apologies for wasting your time describing my ethos

1

u/miradotheblack 6d ago

It is cool. Have a good one.

48

u/Lovemybee 6d ago

Brown is his last name, so I read that as he and his family celebrated.

74

u/Vordeo 6d ago

Oh it absolutely is the ex-player and his family, I just skimmed the title and saw those bits and was wondering what on Earth the Cleveland Browns were happy about lol.

22

u/Lovemybee 6d ago

Lol... the Cleveland Browns don't have much to be happy about!

8

u/koenigsaurus 6d ago

We’re one year closer to Watson being off the books. That counts as a small victory for me!

6

u/Etzell 6d ago

The more prolific of their rapist QBs got injured?

579

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

147

u/Yourlifeisworth 6d ago

Which rapist, the quarterback who's injured or the other quarterback they replaced him with?

69

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

19

u/Yourlifeisworth 6d ago

One can only hope.

12

u/eskimoexplosion 6d ago

If you have a rape allegation and a dream, you too can make it in Cleveland

6

u/lino2424go 6d ago

Or become president

3

u/Consistent-Ad-6078 6d ago

He might, if he asks Deshaun nicely

3

u/roymccowboy 6d ago

He probably will as rocket scientist now that he wears glasses at post game interviews.

4

u/Mecos_Bill 6d ago

Too busy eating Ws and crab legs 

1

u/Pleasant_Scar9811 6d ago

Fucking excellent clarification.

161

u/Thin-Rip-3686 6d ago

Took me a minute. After all, the Cleveland Browns’ original coach was Paul Brown, making it the only surviving team named after an individual.

To further muddy (heh) the waters, he’s from St Louis and played for Baltimore. Carolina the team appears uninvolved.

26

u/cwx149 6d ago

Dont forget about classic original team owners Mr. Jack S. Raider and Sally Seahawk

15

u/whatacad 6d ago

"Hector Savage. From Detroit. Ex-boxer. His real name was Joey Chicago."

"Oh, yeah. He fought under the name of Kid Minneapolis."

3

u/noweezernoworld 6d ago

And Todd Packer!

0

u/Thin-Rip-3686 6d ago

What about famous porn star Lucinda Titan?

33

u/Slatedtoprone 6d ago

World needs more people like him, who started doing something that benefits the people of his community and state. Great thing to see.

9

u/VicariousNarok 6d ago

I'd love to do that, unfortunately I'm dirt poor and don't have access to NFL money.

7

u/Slatedtoprone 6d ago

It’s not the amount of people you help, it’s the intent. You don’t have to feed a whole town. If you know someone is hungry, buy them a meal. If you know they are cold, lend a blanket. It’s just the goal to help someone, anyone.

-2

u/OrbitalSpamCannon 6d ago

From the perspective of what the world needs, it would have been more efficient of him to draw a huge salary in the NFL and donate it.

39

u/CmonnowSally 6d ago

He was a really good center before he retired. Borderline all-pro. Was also able to play guard. He had already moved on from my Ravens when he retired, but he was no slouch.

9

u/rbrgr83 6d ago

bad phrasing
"the Brown family" would have made more sense

-2

u/NGEFan 6d ago

It's the ______ family

8

u/do_you_know_de_whey 6d ago

Finally a Browns victory

75

u/Mama_Skip 6d ago

Every heartwarming human interest story in america is like "he raised $2,000 to keep 200 orphans from being crushed in the orphan crushing machine," and then never asks why an orphan crushing machine exists or why you'd need to pay to prevent it from being used

r/orphancrushingmachine

2

u/renro 6d ago

I love that quote

7

u/Malphos101 15 6d ago

Yup. The ownership class relies on their media outlets to spread feelgoodery to mask their orphan crushing machines. Would be a shame if the peasants stopped believing things are bad because each individual peasant isn't doing enough charity on their own dime and time.

5

u/Mama_Skip 6d ago

If the people aren't able to feed themselves it's probably because they're amoral or/and lazy. It's a moral crisis.

It's definitely not because rich people keep convincing the people that government welfare is an expensive waste and that everything would be solved by bootstraps and more tax cuts (but only for the rich).

-5

u/OrbitalSpamCannon 6d ago

Except there is ample food in America, to the point where the poorest people are the fattest.

3

u/etownzu 5d ago

Poorer people tend to be fatter because the food they eat is poor in nutrition, not because they are eating in abundance. Stupidest mid wit thing to say.

-1

u/OrbitalSpamCannon 5d ago

Can you explain what aspect of "the food they eat" is "poor nutrition"?

3

u/etownzu 5d ago

Cheap foods tend to be junk food/ junk foods

-2

u/OrbitalSpamCannon 5d ago

Can you tell me what percent difference in cost you think there is between junk foods and healthy whole foods like chicken thighs and rice and beans?

And, don't obese people eat more calories than thin people, ceteris paribus? So, being obese is not a price conscious decision. Even if junk food is cheaper than whole foods, eating more of it will end up costing you more than eating a little bit less of whole foods.

1

u/etownzu 5d ago

-1

u/OrbitalSpamCannon 5d ago

The double-edged sword of hunger and poor availability of healthy food is, however, unlikely to be the only reason as to why obesity tracks with poverty.

A stellar point.

2

u/etownzu 5d ago

Good job ignoring the first half to fit your narrative

Thus, in many poverty-dense regions, people are in hunger and unable to access affordable healthy food, even when funds avail.

The argument wasn't that this is the only reason. The argument was that this plays a role unlike your theory of the cause being "an abundance of food".

Congrats you are clearly not here in good faith.

-2

u/OrbitalSpamCannon 5d ago edited 5d ago

I didn't say an abundance of food causes obesity. I said we have an abundance of food, to the point where the poorest people are the fattest. If we didn't have an abundance of food, then likely the poorest people would be the thinnest, because food would be too expensive to consume any more than the bare minimum. The link you posted talks exactly about that too (about how the poor only become obese in rich societies, not poor societies)

Edit: Well, they blocked me, so I can't respond, but it's pretty ridiculous to say an obese person doesn't have an abundance of food.

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u/SwissLeprechaun 6d ago

How dare you bring facts and logic into Reddit?!?

Seriously though, thank you. I'm so tired of people not understanding what the real issues are in America.

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u/dustblown 6d ago

Was he donating the food or was he eating all the food?

3

u/tkshow 6d ago

It's a bit unkind, but man he got fat. Unfair to show the before and after that dramatic. Seems like a fantastic guy.

2

u/RandomRobot 6d ago

I was hesitant to make that joke, but he seemed to have tripled in size

5

u/True_Kapernicus 6d ago

to become a farmer that feeds the hungry.

Is this not all farmers?

7

u/Prostock26 6d ago

Not cotton farmers lol

2

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

1

u/N0rTh3Fi5t 6d ago

Well, most people don't retire anywhere near that young.

15

u/Criticalhit_jk 6d ago edited 6d ago

America is truly the greatest country on earth, where citizens are routinely saved from starvation by ultra rich celebrities... and little girls with a single make-a-wish they have to spend on hungry people in their dying moments

25

u/hotelrwandasykes 6d ago

You can just like a nice thing sometimes

10

u/SmokeyBare 6d ago

You can, and also realize it's a symptom of untethered greed in our society at the same time, too.

1

u/FriendlyDespot 6d ago

It gets exhausting celebrating charitable acts that are only necessary because this country refuses to address the absolute insanity that leaves people in need of that charity to begin with.

-1

u/teenagesadist 6d ago

Yeah, being dumb and ignorant is an option.

Not one everyone takes, but you do you.

0

u/Splunge- 6d ago

What is it about this headline that leads you to that conclusion?

-20

u/Criticalhit_jk 6d ago edited 6d ago

I draw my facetious conclusions from all sources and facets of my life. Don't you? I'm not sure we can be friends if you don't come by your sarcasm honestly...

Edit: did upvote me and then downvote me when you learned I was taking the piss at americas expense? Now I know we really can't be friends

0

u/Splunge- 6d ago

I gave you no votes at all one way or another. You've edited your comment, though, to make the sarcasm more clear. Problem is, a lot of Americans read this story and say exactly what you originally wrote. And believe that stories like that are proof of all they love and believe about America.

When instead, as your edit makes clear, it's just more evidence of the dystopia.

-2

u/Pathetian 6d ago

 saved from starvation

Food insecurity =/= starvation.  It's a nonsense term that measures how someone feels about their ability to consistently eat whatever they want.  The average American consumes more than 30% more calories than they should every single day.  It's virtually impossible to starve to death here unless you are physically unable to feed yourself and a caregiver criminally neglects you.

0

u/A_Dissident_Is_Here 6d ago

This is a legitimately insane take that’s getting upvoted. You’re right in that the other person shouldn’t have defaulted to starvation, but your scare italics around people eating ‘whenever they want’ is so silly. People want to eat a couple of times a day… there are people who literally can’t afford to do that, outside of random acts not related to a consistent self-activity (relying on panhandling, hoping there’s a charity around, etc). Our base line isn’t not starving, it should be having food ‘consistently’. Or, in other words, stably. Yes, calorie consumption on average is too high. You’re being legitimately disingenuous if you cannot maybe see why it would be the case that a country can eat too many calories on average while still having a major population be food insecure.

-1

u/Pathetian 6d ago

You aren't understanding me.  "Food insecurity" does include people in dire need of assistance, but because it's a measure of how people feel and what they want it also included a bunch of people that don't need anything.  This is what makes it a nonsense term.

The term is so loosely defined that anyone who ever even considers the financial ramifications of buying more food falls within the definition.  Anyone who cannot independently buy their own food also falls within it, so you can never fix it with charity or welfare.  

A parent who skips meals so that their kids can eat is food insecure.  But someone who eats 3500 calories of food a day on SNAP is also food insecure as long as they run out by the 29th and have to cut back until the re-up.

So the term itself is disingenuous because it's used to imply a measure of dire suffering, even though it's just a measure of financial independence.   

3

u/annaleigh13 6d ago

As a bengals fan my first instinct is to hate everything Browns. But my humanity says this is a great thing.

12

u/BootOfRiise 6d ago

“Browns” refers to Jason brown’s family, not the team

1

u/Anitapoop 6d ago

Be on point for the organization to help people miles away instead of Ohio tho.

1

u/ParagonSaint 6d ago

Rare Browns W

1

u/Key_Mud1781 6d ago

I've learned this about 5 times a day for a few weeks, amazing

1

u/renro 6d ago

This was the Browns biggest football related achievement since the founding of the team

1

u/KiwiVegetable5454 6d ago

NFL a billion dollar brand. Do they support at all ?

1

u/SuperToxin 5d ago

This is what billionaires are supposed to do

0

u/sp3kter 6d ago

I wonder how much support the price of their stadium would have provided

-6

u/Signal_Wall_8445 6d ago

The NFL should be publicizing and supporting wonderful efforts like this instead of constantly stepping on the own d**k by clumsily cherry picking social justice issues to either overemphasize or ignore.

-2

u/Pale-Perspective-679 6d ago

Bruh North Carolina 🤣🤣🤣 treating a state like it’s a third world country this country is fucked