Posted on 12/23/2017 2:19:33 PM PST by nickcarraway
Who are you to judge what they do with that cash?
Don’t just buy them a sandwich from Pret. They’re not four. They have the right to spend their money as they choose – and it is their money, once given. Don’t just give to people performing, singing, or accompanied by a cute dog. Buskers deserve a wage too, of course. But homeless people are not your dancing monkey and they shouldn’t have to perform to earn your pity.
Don’t second-guess whether people are “really” homeless. Those who think begging is a shortcut to easy money should try humiliating themselves daily in front of thousands of total strangers who won’t even look at them or acknowledge their existence. It is gruelling, soul-destroying work. If people are desperate enough to beg, they need it.
Don’t just give to people who ask you directly, but to the guy with his head in his hands and a Styrofoam cup on the ground in front of him. Give to the woman who’s blind drunk. Give to the guy with meth-rotted teeth. Give to the spice addict who can’t look you in the eye.
Many street beggars are addicts, yes. Do addicts not deserve food? Wouldn’t you want to drink if you were in their position? Don’t you get drunk every weekend to cope with work stress anyway? Who are you to tell them what to do with their bodies?
As the founder of User Voice, a charity led and staffed by former homeless addicts, says: “If your money funds the final hit, accept that the person would rather be dead. If your act of kindness makes him wake up the next morning and decide to change his life, that’s nice but not your business either.”
Of course, it is true that your drinking habit and theirs are fundamentally different. Addiction is rooted in material circumstance – alcohol is the obvious example, but think how many skiing accidents end in courses of opiates far stronger than anything you’d find on the street without any long-term compulsion developing. It can only be tackled by raising people out of poverty, and a brute-force severing of cash flow is not going to starve people into seeking help from authorities they know will not, or cannot, help them.
Yet this abject morality, which says we must push people to rock bottom before we are able to help them, is seized on by austerity governments always greedy to do less. In fact, studies show begging emerges in the “middle-late stages” of homelessness, once people have already exhausted other options. The rock bottom has already been reached.
Eighty per cent of homeless people in the UK experienced no support or advice the last time they were moved on by police or council workers. When the government claims that most people begging on the street are refusing better help, what they mean is the help on offer is not adequate.
Homeless people need free, state-provided housing and fully-funded psychological care. What they get is £538m annual cuts to mental health services and austerity measures driving them into arrears with private landlords and on to the street.
The average life expectancy of a homeless man in London is 47. For women, it is 43. This is lower than the general life expectancy of any nation on the planet. These lives will be improved by systemic, not loose, change.
In the absence of an adequate government response, charitable giving and hostels remain lifesavers to many thousands of people. But big homelessness charities are already receiving millions yearly, while those deemed impossible to help die outside. When I speak to rough sleepers, it is local communities, squatters and grassroots organisations like the London-wide Streets Kitchen which they credit with keeping them alive.
“There is no need to beg on the streets in 2017,” leading London homelessness charity Thames Reach claims. “Hostel rent is covered through Housing Benefit [and] it is an urban myth that if you have no address, you cannot claim benefits.”
The charity, which is primarily funded by the government, makes no mention of the many gatekeeping barriers vulnerable people must cross to secure benefits and a stable hostel place.
Most damningly, they do not mention the fact that the foreign nationals who make up over half of London’s rough-sleeping population cannot claim benefits to access the hostel network at all. Rather, Thames Reach and other top charities shop homeless foreigners to the Home Office to be deported.
It is those same government-funded charities that push the narrative that “kindness kills” as they tout for your donations. Do not believe them. Apathy and austerity kill. Your kindness saves lives.
Had to check if this was satire.
Libs think demeaning and judging the giver is fine, but dont judge the addicted homeless person.
The fact we even consider libs to have ANY weight to be anyones moral arbiters is itself, idiotic and should be stopped immediately.
If his idea is so good why doesn’t he give them all his money, quit his job and join them?
With the Welfare Hammock that exists in this Country, people begging for money are just padding what they already get from Uncle Sugar.
A few years ago my Wife gave some Gal who was dragging her Kid around a Supermarket Parking Lot begging for money $20 bucks. She told me that she talked to the Woman about getting some help. I’m sure the Woman’s eyes rolled back in her head listening to my naive Wife lecturing her.
When she got home and told me I went ballistic and told her she was scammed. Still pisses me off that she got hoodwinked by a professional con artist.
As my Mother always said, you help people who CAN’T help themselves, not people who WON’T help themselves.
Merry Christmas and get off my lawn. #;^(
If your a 60 YO homeless vet, send me a private reply and I’ll send you a prepaid Visa with $100 bucks on it.
I see beggars while smoking a cigarette asking for money!
I have no interest in enabling addicts or drunks. Too many honest, willing-to-work people need help. Disaster relief, food banks, etc.
“..Who are you to judge what they do with that cash?...”
Who am I???
I’m the guy that worked for it, traded in hours of MY life for it, put myself through night school working crappy jobs during the days and weekends so I could learn a trade so I WOULDN’T be out on the streets.
That’s who.
The author can GFHimself.
This definitely qualifies as the most irresponsible, idiotic BS that I’ve read this whole year, and that’s saying something considering the supply.
I suggest he gives them half or more of his money and access to his house - no questions asked.
Interesting that you had no comment on the Author, article or source.
FR is a Conservative discussion forum.
Was/is there something you wish to discuss/point out about the author/article/source?
But it is MY money until given, and I have the right to decide what to do with it. Not this leftwing flake.
Want to make them happy? Let's start a charity "Booze and Butts for Bums" Give them a Thunderbird or a 40 of Malt Liquor and a pack of cigarettes. Cut out the middle man.
To give them cash directly can be enabling their dysfunction. A lot of times they have substance abuse issues. I’ve seen it.
I don’t agree with him. But I think it’s an interesting question, and good for FR.
Are there no prisons? Are the workhouses still in operation?
Most ignorant posted article I’ve EVER read.
Which supports drug cartels, terrorist organizations, and enslavement of humans
Yes, when I can do something I prefer to do food directly and often water or coffee. I think those are wise choices.
I've bought a meal for someone who was counting his change to see if he had enough for a burger. A couple of months ago, I was selling at the flea market when a guy hobbled up and sat in a chair I was selling. He was interested in a pair of men's shoes I had for sale even though they were too big for him. It was a hot day so I moved the chair into the shade for him. When he took off his shoes, he had several open blisters on his feet. I found some socks from another vendor and got some bandaids from another one. I gave him the shoes and a couple of shirts and bought him a bottle of water. I'll help people, but I don't give money directly any more.
That’s a good point.
Well, it certainly seems to have given many FReepers the expected opportunity to make fun of another Commie, but ....
Could you be a little more specific about:
Why you think it's an interesting question.
Why you think it's good for FR.
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