I've had to work with homeless people before. About 50% are people who don't want to be homeless and just need some help. The other 50% are people who are homeless because they've shit on, abused, and taken advantage of their friends and family so often that they've had enough and quit helping. They're the people who aren't just addicted to drugs, but they would be total pieces of shit even sober. They don't view you as a human being, they view you as prey - you're just another means for them to scam something and they don't give a shit about human decency or morality.
Most people would have sympathy and tolerance for the homeless if such a large proportion 1. didn't piss/shit all over like animals and 2. didn't leave other trash and dirty needles everywhere. Such assholes can't even be bothered to use a McDonald's restroom (unless they're injecting drugs) or a public trash can. All these people deserve is to be put on the moon so they can't stink up streets/stores with their feces or harass people minding their own business.
And most people demanding that everyone else have sympathy and tolerance for the homeless have the privilege of not having homeless on their doorstep.
I might argue that sympathy and tolerance is how we got this problem in the first place. Societies that shame homeless out on the streets (regardless of whether they are legit in need or not) tend have less homeless - or they hide themselves away better and stop bothering people.
Then charities can focus on the ones that can actually use the help to better their lives. I definitely feel for people momentarily down on their luck, especially when it's because of shitty government policies that put them out of work.
I watched a documentary once about a lady with kids that got kicked out of her apartment because it was condemned and didn't have the means to get another.
She was couch surfing at friends houses, sleeping in her car, hitting up the different social services, using computers at the library to apply for jobs, etc. At the end things ended up working out.
I suspect that there's something seriously wrong with the homeless in filthy clothes begging on the corner. A normal person will exhaust every option to avoid that fate.
They are basically all on drugs, and I think I would be at that point, too. For all I know, they fought for a long time with their demons and just exhausted every available avenue. Drugs are almost always part of this cycle of deterioration, but obviously most drug users don't end up here, either. So there is always something underlying it. If they weren't messed up before, by the time you see them years into the lifestyle, they're pretty far gone.
I've had to work with homeless people before. About 50% are people who don't want to be homeless and just need some help. The other 50% are people who are homeless because they've shit on, abused, and taken advantage of their friends and family so often that they've had enough and quit helping. They're the people who aren't just addicted to drugs, but they would be total pieces of shit even sober. They don't view you as a human being, they view you as prey - you're just another means for them to scam something and they don't give a shit about human decency or morality.
Most people would have sympathy and tolerance for the homeless if such a large proportion 1. didn't piss/shit all over like animals and 2. didn't leave other trash and dirty needles everywhere. Such assholes can't even be bothered to use a McDonald's restroom (unless they're injecting drugs) or a public trash can. All these people deserve is to be put on the moon so they can't stink up streets/stores with their feces or harass people minding their own business.
And most people demanding that everyone else have sympathy and tolerance for the homeless have the privilege of not having homeless on their doorstep.
I might argue that sympathy and tolerance is how we got this problem in the first place. Societies that shame homeless out on the streets (regardless of whether they are legit in need or not) tend have less homeless - or they hide themselves away better and stop bothering people.
Then charities can focus on the ones that can actually use the help to better their lives. I definitely feel for people momentarily down on their luck, especially when it's because of shitty government policies that put them out of work.
I watched a documentary once about a lady with kids that got kicked out of her apartment because it was condemned and didn't have the means to get another. She was couch surfing at friends houses, sleeping in her car, hitting up the different social services, using computers at the library to apply for jobs, etc. At the end things ended up working out.
I suspect that there's something seriously wrong with the homeless in filthy clothes begging on the corner. A normal person will exhaust every option to avoid that fate.
They are basically all on drugs, and I think I would be at that point, too. For all I know, they fought for a long time with their demons and just exhausted every available avenue. Drugs are almost always part of this cycle of deterioration, but obviously most drug users don't end up here, either. So there is always something underlying it. If they weren't messed up before, by the time you see them years into the lifestyle, they're pretty far gone.
Drugs should be legalised but then you have to have an IQ 120+ to get a drug license. Of course that wouldn't help but it's an ideal I'd aspire to