Eastern Wash. farmer invites Bloomberg to her farm after edited clip goes viral
WILBUR, Wash. – An Eastern Washington farmer is inviting Michael Bloomberg to pay her an in-person visit after a video of the presidential candidate appearing to make negative comments about her profession surfaced online.
The video has garnered thousands of likes and retweets, and appears to show Bloomberg making demeaning comments about farmers and factory workers while speaking at the University of Oxford in 2016.
During the speaker series, Bloomberg reportedly said blue-collar workers are unable to adapt to the information economy, while implying that farming does not take the knowledge and skill of other professions.
“I could teach anybody, even people in this room, no offense intended, to be a farmer. It’s a process. You dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn. You could learn that,” Bloomberg said.
However, the viral clip excludes a key detail: that Bloomberg was not talking about modern agriculture. Bloomberg’s full statement can be seen here.
But, that did not stop the outrage from his critics and members of the agriculture community.
Alison Viebrock-Steveson, who owns and operates a farm in Wilbur, voiced her opinion on her popular Facebook page “Blessed Farmgirl.”
“I think you have absolutely zero clue what farmers do and the impact we have on local, state, national and international economies,” she wrote. “I think you made a complete ass out of yourself by attempting to minimize the people who are producing the food that you and your family eat in order to stay alive. I think you are the one lacking grey matter when you have the audacity to go on record claiming that you could teach anyone anything about farming.”
Viebrock-Steveson wants Bloomberg to see first-hand all that it takes to be a farmer.
“So, Mr. Bloomberg, please accept my invitation to show this farm girl just how stupid I am. Actually, I double dog dare you. And because I’m nice, I’ll wish you luck. But just so you know, if you trash talk one of us, you’ll get to deal with all of us. It’s just one of those things us dumb farmers do.”
Bloomberg has come under scrutiny several times in the last few weeks for past comments he has made, including statements his critics say are racist and misogynistic.
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