I get recommended a few big city subs. Every single post I see is some variation of “homeless people disgust me, we should put them all in prison so I don’t have to look at them”.
Yes, they are rude sometimes! But good lord — look at the way you talk about them! Imagine if you had people talk about YOU that way, every single day! You would become a pretty huge piece of shit pretty fast, too! You know how you see homeless people on the corner at intersections and you look away and pretend you don’t see them? (Don’t pretend — we all have done it.) Put yourself in their shoes for five seconds. You would start believing everyone is a jerk who doesn’t deserve your best in RECORD time.
The 180 that homeless people and those with substance disorders do when you’re nice to them is fucking astronomical. “How’s your day?” “What’s your dog’s name?” Shit, even “I don’t carry cash but you have a blessed day”. “What’s your name?” “Where are you from?” “Did you see the college sports team lost the last game?” Say anything to them that’s normal and it’s like they turn into a different person. The number of times I have heard people on the corner tell me that a 45 second conversation is the most they’ve actually talked to another human being in years is astonishing.
“They can get help” — why would they believe anyone wants to help them when all they ever hear is the most vile shit I’ve ever heard other people say about them???
Some of the people on this site are absolutely rancid. Learn to care about people other than yourselves.
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I live in a city with a high homeless population. The problem is they are not good citizens. They are dirty, refuse to pick up their trash and leave used needles everywhere. Many of them steal just for the sake of stealing. It’s not something they need, it’s there so they just take it. They do their business in creeks and waterways and pollute them. If you need another reason, they get upset if you don’t acknowledge them and still get upset if you do when you tell them no.
Can’t respond; too busy.
This kind of takes always come from the people who have no idea what they are talking about. I live in the city with big homeless population, and in subsidized housing. Id be one step away from been homeless if i decided to indulge in addictions and anti social behavior.
There IS help for people who need it, but it cant be given to people who bring crime, violence and drugs into any setting.
>Some of the people on this site are absolutely rancid.
That applies to pretty much any topic. In real life too, but especially here, where people will often come to rant without feeling the need to filter themselves. I’ve come across a good number of posts like yours, too, though, where people express outrage at how homeless people are treated sometimes.
Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a rude homeless person. Most have just kept to themselves, a few seemed mentally ill but not in a violent way, those I’ve had brief chats with have been perfectly nice and friendly.
Do you actually interact with them daily just walking around town? It gets tiresome and can definitely be dangerous. The majority have no qualms at all about invading your personal space. Not wanting to deal with that doesn’t make one “rancid”.
Yes, they are. Once, when I was poor, a deaf, homeless woman gave me a coat and pair of boots. I wrote a poem for her:
Homeless
No-one sees between the lines, etched in tears of time..
The depth of fear and loneliness, with every furrowed line.
No-one hears the cry at night, for winter’s cruel laughter, drowns the huddled hopeless ghost, bombed in ever after.
No-one speaks the unspeakable of existing human shame…
Instead, the evil lies in wait, for another soul to claim
I’ve been homeless AND lived around and been attacked/assaulted/insulted/stalked/threatened by homeless people.
I had to work for a while as a cook at a breakfast cafe where a 6’8” homeless dude hid in the bushes to try to ambush the tiny female workers how came in before the sun rose. He screamed at us and when we begged the police to take him somewhere he could get housing & help, they literally said he refused to go to a damn high quality hotel. F that guy. He scared us for months. Owners did nothing.
I’ve also actually been homeless & I can say this: I always tried to wash in bathrooms & Planet Fitness. I sought out counseling & help. I held a job. I did everything to get out of it.
I shouldn’t have to be put off going to parks or hanging out in public places because of homeless or mentally ill people.
Where I live there are beautiful natural areas that I avoid because of all the sketchy people hanging out & doing drugs.
Not ALLLL of them. I have great compassion for how sad it is to be homeless and how it can happen to any of us.
I don’t want them in prison either, but Idk what to tell you.
You’ve dropped done hard truths here today and I respect you for it. I myself get a little harsh on the homeless and you’ve reminded me that they deserve the love. Thank you, I will indeed go out of my way to treat them like a human next chance I get.
Yeah in my city the vast majority of homeless I’ve encountered just lay there and don’t cause any problems. One was a veteran that just asked me to buy him a jacket.
Most people I know don’t take any responsibility for their plight even though we’ve made housing incredibly unaffordable. They want to blame drugs despite the fact that you can do drugs in a house and median rents are correlated with homeless rates. Yeah I’m sure drugs contribute too, but I’m also sure homelessness causes drug addiction as well. Pretty hard to get clean on the street.
Some homeless do cause problems and those people should be forced into rehabs or shelters. But, only if they actually steal, leave trash or cause damage. If they hurt people they should be prosecuted. But, I think a lot of people just want to lock them all up or kick them out of the city. Even if they haven’t done anything.
Speaking as someone who spent 2 1/2 years in a shelter and was just scraping by before that, most that you see on the street are only being nice in hopes you will give them something. If they didn’t feel there would be any retaliation, they’d have zero issue robbing you.
They are usually the ones that have obliterated every bridge for help and are refusing to change. They make it far more difficult for the ones who are trying to get back on their feet. They trash the cities they are in without care. Smoke fet in front of you and your kids. Make large groups of likeminded people turning that area into a biohazard.
I live in a small town and I still encounter people on the street needing help. I have lived in bigger cities and commute to suburbs, it’s not like I’m unaware of a different level of problem. Just saying the problem extends farther than some people may think.
I try to at least once a month get someone a drink and slip them a five. I have no idea what they do with it. I don’t care.
But they seem so grateful to get a hot coffee or cold drink, and are surprised when they get a little cash as well.
I’m hoping my blessings roll* forward and snowball because I hope not to ever be there myself. And it is a hope. Not a certainty.
Many homeless are also unusually obscene and rude too. If you live in an urban area near a lot of them no doubt you have been harassed, yelled at, and exposed to gross and dangerous behaviors. It’s understandable why people are fed up and their willingness to be polite dwindles. Gotta give respect to get it. You can have compassion and also not be willing to let someone harass you or damage your property. Homeless need to have some accountability, the lack of it is in part why they are usually there.
Wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t leave a tornado of garbage wherever they wandered. Would also be a plus if they weren’t strung out all over the place, attacking people, shitting wherever they pleased, making public spaces unusable, etc… empathy only goes so far before people that have to live around them are living in worse conditions because of them… This isn’t random conjecture form someone engaging in “the culture war” I am sick of them because of where I live
really depends on where you live
America doesn’t have to have a homeless population.
America is the wealthiest nation in the world and could easily afford to shelter, feed and provide healthcare to all of its citizens.
Americans choose not to do what is necessary to make this happen.
I for one would happily pay a more in taxes to make this happen. I hate seeing the needless suffering of fellow human beings.
I made a post about this in r/pittsburgh . I got downvoted to hell and back then my post got taken down
It makes me wanna go out and help someone right now. I hate this world.
I feel it is the fate of all men to be stripped of home, dignity, support and hope with the way this world is going.
There are a few things going on, but two major categories. The noticeably homeless and the unnoticeable homeless.
The first category is what people call “bums” or “hobos”. These are the folks that are dirty, asleep or passed out on the ground, begging on the street. This is what most people think when they think homeless, but is just one subsection. This population is predominantly dealing with both mental health and substance abuse problems.
Prior to the 80’s a lot of this population was institutionalized, meaning basically in a nice jail. Ronald Regan closed all the institutions and put all these people on the street with zero resources. Say what you will about institutions pre Regan, a lot of bad stuff happened no doubt, but it was a dysfunctional policy change that were still dealing with today.
This population should be getting treated for a medical problem. We have this stupid hangup about mental health and addiction like it’s some character flaw, where cancer is not. It’s not like anyone was born saying I want to be a homeless junky begging for change and stealing copper for a fix, just like no one was born wanting to have cancer. Why one is prioritized over the other is simply an ethical failure of our culture.
Then we have the unnoticeable. These are people like you and me. No raging substance abuse. No debilitating mental illness. Maybe grew up poor, maybe hit a string of bad luck, whatever. These are the folks sleeping in cars, or couch surfing, utilizing shelters or hostiles. They look like you or me. They make your burrito and pour your coffee, clean your bathroom and cut your grass. Not saying everyone in these jobs is homeless, but minimum wage is not a living wage anywhere in the US. This is the population that is not begging. This is the population trying but being neglected. This is the population we are talking about when we talk about income inequality.
Of course so much more to it but that’s my high level take.
How do you think the average person in a developed country becomes homeless, OP?
I prefer to refer to the “homeless” as bums.
I am from a lower class background. Lots and lots of unemployment, alcoholism, drug abuse. My brother once joked to me that when he travels home from work, people would point and say, ”That’s the guy with the job!”
It was not uncommon for the average person around me to have never worked a day in their lives. As a matter of fact, they regarded the working man as a fool. Why work when you can be looked after by the government?
So long as these people pretend they’re looking for a job, they will be supported. If they have addiction issues, they won’t have to look for a job at all in many cases — and will have access to recovery services.
If they cannot meet the bare minimum requirements to receive their payments, they will eventually end up being evicted from their homes. At that point, there are shelters they can go to, and services to help them get back on track. If they show up to the shelters drunk, on drugs, get involved in fights, they will eventually be banned from them.
Only at that stage will they end up truly homeless.
Another thing to bear in mind is that many people begging on the streets have homes to go to. Panhandling their “job” so to speak.
The myth that the average bum is just a poor soul down on his luck is only believed by middle-class lefties, who obviously have no experience of lower-class life and culture. Those of us who rejected the bottle and crack pipe, and became working stiffs, have a little laugh to ourselves when we see the likes of you line up to buy the bum his next bottle of booze.
We’ve had to close parks in my city because of the amount of needles and human shit left there by the homeless
Thank you for this, OP.
People never paid attention to what Jesus said about taking care of the poor and needy and how to see God in them.
Same thing with prisoners and people with a record, you can treat somebody with respect even if you don’t want to trust them.
It ironic because people supposedly care about class solidarity and then turn a blind eye when it comes to the homeless and suddenly they do not give a fuck. Given our economic status, most of us are close to being homeless than being rich. I think there are a ton of issues with that system that the government refuses to help with.
The bit I absolutely fucking hate is when people go on about so-and-so many percentage of them being addicted or mentally ill. So, is that supposed to be some kind of justification to treating them like shit? Don’t they deserve to have homes because they’re sick?
I once spent a measly 40 days couch-surfing while searching for a place, and even that was enough to completely destroy my sense of humour about this.
My stepmother-in-law was a stereotypical valley girl… Except for the fact that she was raised by two Holocaust survivors.
One day we were talking about the homelessness issue and it became very clear that she only cared about homelessness in the context of how it impacts HER mood. HER day. HER enjoyment of the city streets.
“Why can’t we just, I don’t know, ship them off somewhere to do farm labor on, like, a compound or something!”
“Jennifer, that’s a concentration camp.”
“What? No! Not like that! They would live there and they would just support their care by working on the farm. They need a home, so just…. Make them live there! They’d be fed! I just don’t want them there anymore.”
“Yeah…. That’s still a concentration camp”
I’m going to guess you’re a male. You don’t know what it’s like being a woman who is regularly harassed by homeless men. Come back to me when your just walking to work in the city and someone tells you they are going to rape you and that’s just a regular occurance
Ive helped a few homeless people in my life. The two that stands out: one guy begged for money because he missed the community meal. I didn’t have cash, so I went to the store with him and bought him a cold cut sub, a few snacks and 2 drinks, with my food stamps, because that was all I could do. The second, just wanted directions to that day’s community meal. Both were very nice.
That being said. I’ve been heckled, followed, harasses and almost attacked by homeless folks before, because I didn’t have anything i could give them. Mind you, I’m that person that if I go into the city, I have to take someone with me because I WILL get money out, specifically to give to the homeless. Which isn’t bad on its own, but I’d 100% go broke myself, because i fucking WANT to help.
That also being said, my oldest brother has been homeless a few times before. He always refused to go to a shelter because they have rules he has to follow them. They have curfews. There’s no drugs or alcohol (he’s a pothead. And I mean a major pothead “im not addicted i just get irritated and cranky when I don’t have it” Kind). he is one of the worst people you’ll ever meet: sexist, racist, homophobic, he had ODD as a child that was never fully treated and turned into other issues, he’s violent (spent time in jail for assault.) Won’t keep his area clean, prefers to whine about his circumstances instead of trying to fix them (i would know. The only reason he got a bad tooth out was because I fucking called the dentist and got an appointment. I offered a lot of help when he lived with me and our dad. He refused to put in the work. ) and overall is a horrible fucking human being to the point where almost all our siblings have up on him, and he’s onto leaching off of our last brother (youngest brother, still older than me).
Not all homeless are bad, but there’s always a chance, and if you take the chance with the wrong one just one time, you could end up dead.
It is easier to swallow the enormous discomfort caused by seeing a person just like you living in those conditions when you dehumanize them and treat them like a monster.
I always feel very uncomfortable when I pass by a homeless person and I avoid making any kind of eye contact as much as possible and simply try to move away quickly, yet i always feel bad no matter how used i am to it. Confronting this reality is hard so we do everything possible to cope.
Have you lived around the homeless?
As someone who works with homeless people, they’re incredibly entitled. I am not sure if it’s the common age group I’m dealing with, or the state I’m in. I often find myself wishing for them to just say thank you. I’m giving and offering a service for free and they say it’s not enough and/or they want more… Can I give them a cigarette, change etc. They’re rarely and I mean RARELY grateful. My experience is singular possibly… But it absolutely does not give me any sympathy that they call me names, degrade me, and often times end up verbally or physically violent. Circumstances don’t make you a piece of shit, you either are or you aren’t.
All I know is I’m friendly to them but in my area they absolutely destroy the property they make their camps in.
I mean I bet people would lay off of them a lot more if they would just clean up a little bit.
If the homeless disappear, the crime rate might drop, but the suicide rate will skyrocket — just like in East Asian countries.
This is so naive in so many ways
I used to have compassion for them. After I got attacked a couple times, I got none
If anyone could monetize fixing homelessness then the stigma of hobos would be non existent, instead it’s easier to look down and despise rather than be charitable.
Asylums helped but society did away with them because it’s a financial black hole.
I was homeless once. You have to understand that while some folks truly are down on their luck, some of these folks would knife you without a second thought for your wallet. It’s not like the hallmark movies. These people can be dangerous. Not saying they are inherently evil but you have to understand that not everyone is a good person at their core. Some people truly are just evil and nothing can change that.
I obviously can’t speak for all homeless, but my husband and I ended up homeless for 4 months in 2019. Save the story, but we came across a few people who had clearly been homeless for a long time. One man had a bike and we saw him often drinking and riding around a parking lot, so we avoided it when we could. We got some subs as our one meal one day and he came literally speeding towards us, I can definitely say there was fear but mostly confusion when he demanded “give me that food.” We just stared, and didn’t know what the fuck to say, just “this is all we have today.”
He fortunately just replied “sometimes the church girls give out food” and rode off. Not sure why I told this story, but I know so many are homeless because of true circumstance. I’m immune compromised and can’t work a job, my husband is disabled and can’t work a job, his mother was the one that took us in after a nasty divorce with his father that had kicked us out.
Life looks incredibly different for everyone, and I have every gratitude that we had someone to support us and supports us. She never judged us, and still loves us and cares for us like we are two normal ass people lol ~
But i know that most of those we interacted with, it wasn’t because of drugs or choice. Family, lost a job, can’t work a job, mentally or physically disabled. People are cruel about what they don’t experience, and even more cruel when the painting of what it means to be homeless is so black and white
Most humans lack basic empathy. Just look at how many people support the cruel meat industry when they can easily choose not to.
Not sure why some people are cruel. I feel most people are not. I feel most people it makes them uncomfortable so they avoid them. Maybe it’s the fear of it. Not sure why. I’ve always been nice to homeless people- well everyone. I currently help some in my profession.
I feel people who are rude like that aren’t happy people and have nothing better to do. It’s not about the homeless person, it’s about their own issues.