The Homeless 8-Year-Old Chess Champion and Other Horrific 'Uplifting' Stories

http://fair.org/home/the-homeless-8-year-old-chess-champion-and-other-horrific-uplifting-stories/
Date Written:  2019-03-25
Year Published:  2019
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23583

Stories in US media of people overcoming adversity are only inspiring if you ignore the unjust systems that create their oppression.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

The homeless 8-year-old chess champion is a prime example of a fast-growing sub-genre of unintentionally horrifying stories that are meant to uplift the reader, but instead highlight the hellish nightmare much of the country lives in. The New York Post ran an article on a teenager who saved up for two years to buy his friend an electric wheelchair.

MSNBC covered the story of a furloughed government worker so desperate for cash she sold her wedding ring. When her family found out, they bought the ring back for her. Host Stephanie Ruhle breathlessly told her viewers, "That is such a great story" and "that is who we are as a nation." Others may have believed the latter, but not the former.