Dealing with the Homeless

[Yari]

Originally posted by Sharp Phil
Human filth

I agree that nobody should be allowed to take your personal space, but who's the problem when you think of them as filth? Then you've allready attacked them before they confront you...

That's a mentality I wish we could get ride of. Then we could help people instead of putting them away and hoping they would die.

/Yari

 

[Phil Elmore]

A disheveled, chemically altered, physically dirt-encrusted creature wandering around in traffic wearing one shoe and loudly barking at each person who enters a building, demanding to know if they have change at the top of his lungs, is indeed human filth.

I watched as women with children cringed and recoiled from his advances.

I watched as people of all ages did their best to simply walk around him and go on about their lives, only to be stopped as he circulated among them making his demands.

I watched as he took a peaceful afternoon and turned it into an exercise in harassment for all within earshot.

I watched, and was sickened.

 

[tarabos]

Originally posted by Kaith Rustaz
Too often, esp. today, I hear of people who are highly trained and skilled in their fields, working very mundane jobs just to get by.

it is very tough out there right now. it took me over six months of trying just to get one interview a little over a year and a half ago, and from what i can tell it's worse now. luckily my first interviewer hired me, and i mean LUCKY. we just hired a new designer at my office because the woman whos position he filled was leaving. we're in a very small town and i kid you not, we recieved over 100 resumes for the position and all we did was put a small ad in the local paper. we had people applying from all over the country, and most of the faxes came from places like kinko's and other copy places because that's where the designers who forked over a ton of money for their education wound up working, just trying to get somewhere close to working in the field.

 

[Ender]

I think many are missing a very important point here. Who are the homeless?..and why are they there? true some may be alcoholics or drug addicts. Ive read where drug account for 25-30% of poverty.

But in the early 80's the ACLU took the government to court to release many people who were mentally ill or institutionalized. They claimed they were being held against thier will and the government were holding them prisoners. The ACLU won the case and the government had to release them. Many of these patients had no one to release them to, so they were just released into the public. Since the government could no longer house these people, funding was then removed. Many people blame Reagan for being callous and not caring for these people, but really the ACLU is to blame.

anyway, the point is that many of these people are mentally and can turn violent in a matter of seconds. Caution would be the prudent reaction because you never know what they are thinking or what they will do. Yes we can pity them, but we must also be wary. just my opinion.

 

[girlychuks]

First off, I agree with the fact that allowing a stranger to invade your personal space is a bad idea. I have had *plenty* of, ah, "grizzled" men try to get up close. It's a wonder what a pointed finger and a loud "STOP RIGHT THERE" will do.


As far as "dealing with the homeless",
1) The vast majority of "homeless' are women and children.
2) There are plenty of aggressive, mentally ill people who make six figures annually. They qualify as "human filth" also, However, is not as fun to try to morally stigmatize someone who drives a BMW. it's much more fun if they are grizzled and they smell.
3) If a homeless person accosts or harasses you, you can call the cops on him and have him moved away from your place of business or cited for disorderly conduct. If you decide to go up and suckerpunch a bum, the police will barely even pay attention to your victim.

Second, to beat a Cliche' to death, don't judge a book by his or her cover. I am * very* close to someone who, between the ages of 18-20, was a homeless gutter punk. He spare changed and slept in vacant buildings, had the American flag upside down on his jacket in protest, etc.

Today, a few years later, he has a 4.0 GPA, is a supervisor at a major manufacturer, and drives a Porsche. Oh, and he votes republican.

 

[progressivetactics]

Please excuse my short replies I will be moving too, as my computer is continually booting me off!!!!!!!!! ARRRGHHHHHHH


We must be wary of everyone.....Look at those rich Colorado white kids in the burbs....Got teased for wearing trench coats and started shooting everyone. Dont let your kids go to school....they could get shot!

Post office employees stressed about working conditions---- Don't complain about stamp price increases.....you could get shot...

Don't Complain about your spouse coming home late from work.....they could dump your body in the river and try to flee to mexico..

Don't go downtown to the casino... Homeless people are outside and everyone is a drug infested bum looking for an easy way out and is ready to cut you if you don't give him a dollar.

I agree....we don't want to see people down on their luck....but have some sensibility to the issues here. It is not black and white....everyone is taking the easy way out and begging for a buck instead of working for a buck.

 

[Phil Elmore]

Originally posted by girlychuks
However, is not as fun to try to morally stigmatize someone who drives a BMW. it's much more fun if they are grizzled and they smell.

This is not a question of what is "fun" or not. This is a question of what is most applicable and most accurate for the continued defense of the self from society's predators.

If a homeless person accosts or harasses you, you can call the cops on him and have him moved away from your place of business or cited for disorderly conduct.

You don't spend a lot of time walking from Point A to Point B downtown in an urban area, do you? What are you going to do -- stand there and wait for fifteen, twenty, or thirty minutes with your mobile phone in your hand while you wait for the cops to show up?

"Please hold on, Mr. Aggressive Panhandler, while I phone the police to have you removed..."

If you decide to go up and suckerpunch a bum, the police will barely even pay attention to your victim.

No one here is talking about suckerpunching anybody.

Second, to beat a Cliche' to death, don't judge a book by his or her cover. I am * very* close to someone who, between the ages of 18-20, was a homeless gutter punk. He spare changed and slept in vacant buildings, had the American flag upside down on his jacket in protest, etc.

Today, a few years later, he has a 4.0 GPA, is a supervisor at a major manufacturer, and drives a Porsche. Oh, and he votes republican.

One of those people contributed to the decay of the society in which he was living at the time. One did not.

I don't care what a given beggar's life was like before or what it will be like later. To deal with violence, to defend yourself, you must be concerned with now.

 

[girlychuks]

Phil, you are showing anger , as well as incorrect assumptions.

As a woman who walks *alone* in an area notorious for panhandlers every day, and has called the cops on a PAYPHONE, I can assure you, aggression is dealt with.

I wonder why you sat and "watched" as women and children were "violently accosted" from a "filthy creature.' Surely you were not scared of this bedraggled old man and could have *politely* asked him to change his demeanor?

I don't think defense against homeless people is an issue worth discussing. Rather, self- defense in general should be addressed instead of people in one demographic. Predators are predators.

Retitle your thread "Dealing with Blacks"- after all, they are incarcerated in great proportion, no? I still believe you are picking on a defenseless group, as I for one, am not going to round up the homeless and get them to a computer cafe' to argue this thread-

Self-Defense. Not class-defense.

PS- The Decay of Society? I keep hearing about this great Decay of Society. Should I ask Bill Bennet? He knows a lot about that... or great Morality Queen Laura Schlessinger...

Reading assignment for the day: Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut.

 

[girlychuks]

Originally posted by Sharp Phil
A disheveled, chemically altered, physically dirt-encrusted creature wandering around in traffic wearing one shoe and loudly barking at each person who enters a building, demanding to know if they have change at the top of his lungs, is indeed human filth.

I watched as women with children cringed and recoiled from his advances.

I watched as people of all ages did their best to simply walk around him and go on about their lives, only to be stopped as he circulated among them making his demands.

I watched as he took a peaceful afternoon and turned it into an exercise in harassment for all within earshot.

I watched, and was sickened.

You WATCHED.
And WATCHED.
And WATCHED.


Complacency is the first step for evil. Whether you were sickened or not.

 

[tkdcanada]

Dealing with blacks??! A little bigotted, no?

 

[girlychuks]

"Dealing with the homeless" isn't bigoted?


*Girlychuks sighs, decides to meditate*

 

[Kirk]

Let's also discuss the poor, helpless convicts in our justice system.
Nobody understands those poor souls, who can't have conjugal
visits, subscriptions to playboy, and are limited on internet access.
We need to do something about THOSE people. Those darn
victims and all their complaining put them in jail in the first place,
what right to they have? Where do they come off?

 

[J-kid]

We are all humans no matter what type of finacial sititauin you are in. It dos not matter if you have a billion dollars or not a penny to your name.

These people arnt animals and we can't just turn are backs on them and pretend they are not there.

I will spare a dollar for one of these homeless guys because half of these people really want a job and arnt a crack head.

What ever happen to the love......

 

[DAC..florida]

I work in a county jail and see plenty of homeless people!
there is a difference between people who are just down on thier luck and violent predators who are addicted to either drugs or alchohol. Unfortunately the violent addicts usualy prey on women
because they will usualy give them what they want, 9 out of 10 times the female is afraid what the vagrant might do if they dont.
These violent addicts are criminals and somtimes the worst ones, so they should be treated as such. Another misfortune is that the homeless that are just down on thier luck usually get treated the same as the addicts.

A radio personality did a expirement in the local area where i live, he dressed in rags and got filthy everyday for a week then he stood at busy intersection and held up a sign theat read ( homeless vet please help! ) this D.J. made close to $1000.00 in a week. None of the radio listeners knew about this scam until it was over he then took the money and donated it to a homeless shelter.

We can sit here in our a/c and type on our computers all day, but
who are we to judge?
:asian:

 

[Nightingale]

Originally posted by Judo-kid
We are all humans no matter what type of finacial sititauin you are in. It dos not matter if you have a billion dollars or not a penny to your name.

These people arnt animals and we can't just turn are backs on them and pretend they are not there.

I will spare a dollar for one of these homeless guys because half of these people really want a job and arnt a crack head.

What ever happen to the love......

Thank you for seeing what many of those older than you are too blind to notice.

 

[tshadowchaser]

I find your comments almost beneath responding to.
You have an attitute that shows you could care less about the other guy. These people are in need of help in many cases and no less mentaly disturbed than people you will find running a major buissness, or the goverment. Why is it that just because someone is out of a job or homeless that they become less than human?
To me you have shown yourslef to be below them on the human scale for many of them would try to help you if you needed it yet you sure don't sound like you would help them. It must be nice to never have been poor or homeless and to feel superior to everyone in that situation.
Sorry I can't feel that way I have lived below the poverty level many times and yes I have been homelss also.
And takeing a slam at the homeless to promote something you wrote> Hell I cant tell you what I think about that I like not being suspended.

 

[tkdcanada]

Sorry girlychuks, I really thought you were serious about the black thing. I didn't catch your sarcasm.

 

[Astra]

It's not all that bright..

I remember when I was 14, a homeless, and pretty drunk guy came to me and asked me for money. I told him to bugger off with a simple "No." After which he decided to grab me and not let me go. Grabbing who is pretty much still a kid - how ****ed up is that? Needless to say he didn't let go when asked either. It also goes without saying that none of the people walking by wanted to help either. I had already started on MAs back then and after asking him about ten times to let go and be gone, I told him that I would hit his face in, if he refused once more. Next time, he let go alright.

Compassion for people like that?

 

[Phil Elmore]

Have those of you posting such hostile criticism failed to notice that the editorial addresses both sides of the issue?

I must have missed the part of my own essay where I declared that all unemployed citizens of the United States were black and should be scooped into open graves with bulldozers before being shot.

What, you mean I didn't write that? Gosh, you wouldn't know it from the replies.

 

[progressivetactics]

please note in my initial (or second) reply, I commented on the article being good. It was well done.
My point has been the lack of compassion shown to anyone who is down. You just came at it like ALL PEOPLE ON THE STREET ARE SCUM AND GOING TO ATTACK YOU...BE PREPARED.
I was suggesting considering peace and compassion before hatred and denial.