The lack of compassion people have for anyone homeless is absolutely astounding to me. The attitude seems to be that it’s all their fault because they aren’t working or they don’t have a job or they must have done something horrible or they must have screwed up. Only around a 3rd of the homeless population actually uses drugs or alcohol and it’s not all homeless people. Instead of people helping people or having compassion there’s a hatred towards people that are the exact same as people that have a home they have dreams they have a family they have something to live for they are a person. Around 40% to 60% percent of people experiencing homelessness actually have jobs and are working! No one seems to care that housing is a human right and instead of hating the people who are homeless we should be making a difference and coming together to achieve real change. Don’t hate the homeless hate the people that hate and tear down there fellow brothers and sisters because they are terrified that they will be next.
Comments
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
[removed]
I have always been curious. When people chime off this quote that housing is a human right what do you actually mean by this?
I remember giving someone who was unhoused $5 once and the friend I was with said the cliche “oh he’s just going to spend it on booze and drugs!”
Like man stfu I saw you at the bars last weekend drinking like it was the end of the world, how dare you judge someone who is struggling on the chance they may use money for the thing that you actively do.
ETA: my point is that it’s hypocritical to assume someone will spend money on booze when you yourself are not a saint when it comes to drinking away your money, not that it’s fine for people who are begging to actually spend the money on booze.
People hating homeless people has always been weird to me
I’ll start thinking better of them when they stop harassing me on the way to work, committing crime near my house, overtaking public parks and leaving trash, shit, and needles for children to be exposed to.
Go out and invite some into your home. Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Most people are busy virtue signaling about wars in others countries that they have no ties to, but will just shrug off the homeless population in their own cities.
They’re not people they’re crackheads, I gave money to a homeless guy and had several conversations on multiple occasions. One day I found him at a 7/11 and he was shaking and super energetic. Why should I stand in a hot machine shop for 50 hours a week to have my money get this guy high. Stereotypes exist for a reason.
Then give one a home to stay in, I’m sure you have room
Edit: since people have reading comprehension issues, I said A(1) homeless person, not the entire population of them lol
When they stop harassing my wife and kids I may give a fuck. I’m sure there are a few good people down on their luck, but the last time I walked by one tried to kick my wife in the stomach in a drug fueled haze.
Go to downtown Seattle , Portland or San Fran and tell me only a 3rd of them are using drugs. I don’t think anyone has a problem with homeless people that have jobs and are trying to improve their situation. As human beings we want to help others but they need to want to help themselves too. Throwing money and resources at drug addicts and allowing them to do whatever they want in public is destroying society
Housing isn’t a human right, everything costs something and must be earned. The world owes you nothing. I am more than willing to help them out. I have in several occasions, but I’ve also seen many occasions of them outright refusing to work for a living. There is a balance and there are plenty of homeless people who don’t deserve to be homeless and will be able to work their way out of it, but there are also many who are lazy and entitled and refuse to put in effort.
Half of the homeless population are kids who simply aged out of the system. I used to be less empathetic. Not hard to make it but if you have literally no safety net from the start, or guidance = doom.
Gonna give an actual unpopular opinion as someone who lives in a somewhat large city. I don’t think the hatred comes from homeless people being “lazy” or that the hatred is directed out of people living in their cars or couch surfing. It has more to do with the mentally ill living on the street. It can be uncomfortable when you walk by someone who is having a mental episode, there have been plenty of cases of people being assaulted in my city. It’s also things like feces/urine in the sidewalk or something more like one incident where I was driving. By a man who had his pants fully down with his bare ass exposed.
A lot of city governments across the country have done things like allowing the homeless to camp in public areas and accumulate a lot of trash and it’s created a lot of backlash against the homeless. So I think with all those things it’s more about people being sick of dealing with that than people “not working”
I don’t hate all the homeless people, just the one that shit on the hood of my car.
Go build some homes then. Plenty of opportunity to go work at a habitat for humanity or start your own chapter or heck even your own non-profit that builds homes. What city are you in?
You say we lack compassion for the homeless but where’s their compassion when they’re robbing you?
And what are YOU doing about it? Have you offered them your house? Compassion is just a word, it doesn’t help anyone.
The facts you wrote may be correct for your country, but they are definitely not correct for ours. (Central Europe) our homeless people are all alcoholics, drug addicts and petty criminals. They are offered help and sanctuary, but they don’t use it. You clearly know nothing about working with addicts.
Nobody acts like they aren’t people.
Shut up
I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t think homeless people are people.
However, many people who are homeless fall into general categories, such as:
This is clearly just a broad stroke, but depending on which category you fall into, you might have a more negative impact on people you interact with – especially if you are not very civil.
It’s hard for people who want to help those who do not want to be helped though, and they end up being looked at like, a burden. It’s also hard to treat people who don’t want to be treated.
“But for the grace of God there go I.”
Last week I witnessed a homeless dude chuck and shatter glass bottles all over a very popular playground where dozens, if not a couple hundred children play weekly, including my own child.
I agree that they’re people, and while not all are, many are absolutely shitty people and the scum of the earth. Instead of trying to better themselves or the people around them, they destroy bathrooms, leave trash everywhere, shit in open view on the sidewalk/road, harass people, assault people, vandalize public spaces/utilities, steal, openly shoot up in parks, and much more.
The worst part? Many of these assholes don’t want to do anything to change themselves and better their situations and actively choose to be this way and live this life. I’ll change my mind when I stop seeing fucks like this throughout my community.
In San Jose, CA BTW, ~1 hour south of San Francisco. All of CA’s major cities are like this, and I’m sick of it. This isn’t what I grew up with 20+ years ago.
Edit: I have more stories here too.
My list goes on and on. I used to care, but having lived among them (I was once homeless for a couple months myself) and been dealing with them my entire life, I genuinely don’t care anymore. A lot of folks are on here blaming Republicans too, but this is all California, aka Democrat Central. Can’t blame Republicans in a state that they have next to no influence in. People need a lot of self-reflection and to pull their heads put of their asses.
Certainly they are people, but they are usually people who have made poor choices and, in most cases, are completely responsible for their situation. Now I understand that RedditThink feels differently – that every homeless person has a heart of gold, and they’re just waiting for that break to get back on top. But that’s simply not true. No one ever wants to think realistically about this issue, but these are – with some exceptions – people who have made bad choices and are living with the consequences of those choices. Do they deserve help? Absolutely. But they deserve help to help themselves – not flat out charity. And then it gets sticky, because then it becomes apparent that many of them don’t want to help themselves at all, they just want the charity.
Any social system with successful members will always have unsuccessful members as well. And this is okay.
I’ve worked with the homeless for the past 11 years in a large city.
Generally speaking, the ones who truly want to improve their situation and get back on their feet will utilize the available resources. Avoid drugs/alcohol to gain admittance into shelters and “Restart” programs, and find employment.
The homeless who live under the bridge for years and panhandle, generally don’t want “help”. They choose this lifestyle. I’ve had countless homeless tell me they prefer this way of life. No rules, no jobs, no obligations. These are the ones with a combination of substance abuse and mental health issues. Effectively, they are misanthropes.
Pretending that a large amount of the “under the bridge” homeless aren’t actively choosing this lifestyle is delusion. They get drunk, high, steal, etc. And they enjoy it.
Take my upvote cuz homeless people in the city are terrible.
I’m not talking about the innocent mother who lost her job and then home. I’m talking about the druggies who curse at you if you don’t give them money
I don’t have any compassion or sympathy for people who won’t help themselves. A lot of government money is allocated for helping those in need. Not all homeless people fall under that category, but there are many who do.
Housing is also not a human right. You have to earn what you get and help contribute to society, that’s the only way civilization can function and improve.
Instead of pointing fingers at others, say what you are actually doing in your neighborhood.
If someone puts up a tent near your house, do you welcome them and help them? Answer it
Homeless people are public nuisances people have a right to live how they choose but homeless people aren’t living and many are incapable of coherent thoughts. Those that are usually don’t make good decisions so empathy for them should be minimal
The people that defend these maniacs haven’t had to live near them.
To make matters worse, the public are encouraged to donate to homeless charities which do fuck all to help these people long term. and only serve as an extra revenue of tax.
Yes, some ppl are homeless due to the economic state, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get back on your feet. I see homeless ppl begging for money all the time but how many of them are willing to take the steps to get bac on their feet? How many are willing to take the steps to integrate back into society? Some of them are, and guess what the ones who are always do. Had a homeless guy who used to sleep at the skate park. Dude worked everyday at el pollo loco and saved up so he could afford a room and he’s doing pretty good now for himself. It’s not perfect but it’s better than where he’s at.
Yes, homeless ppl are ppl too but they have to get their lives better for themselves. There is a homeless encampment right outside my house and I see the same ppl everyday. Not many of them are doing anything to change their situation. Expecting the govt to care about you is a recipe for disaster. What ever you want in this world you gotta go get it. No one is gonna hand you anything. I had homeless family members and when they hit rock bottom they realized ‘I gotta do better for me.’ What’s stopping these homeless ppl from working? What’s stopping them from putting down the drugs or alcohol? The answer is them. They are the ones stopping themselves. If i lost my job tomorrow, I’m gonna start applying. I’m gonna go do a gig job. I’m gonna do whatever I can to get back on my feet because I don’t expect anyone else to do it for me.
Homeless ppl should not be treated any less than anyone. All of us are capable of being in that situation, but are you gonna bounce back or stay stuck?
Housing isn’t a human right though?
I know they are human… I just have little empathy for entitled, violent, unpredictable people who congregate around the places where I’d just like to take my dog and my 4yo for a walk. I feel threatened by them.
My mom always stopped me from giving them food/money and I hate when she does that. It could always be me homeless and hungry 💔
Theres homeless drug addicts in my town straight up smoking fentanyl next to daycares, shitting on the sidewalk, and harassing people who are just trying to go about their day, and Im sick of people acting like thats okay.
They certainly are people, and people should be held accountable for their actions.
Clearly OP doesnt live downtown in a major city. Having had several scary run-ins in downtown Chicago I defintiely understand why people have an aversion to homeless people.
Yes but I’m homeless and I know that there are two kinds of homeless people. The menaces to society deserve the hate, you can be homeless and not covered in trash.
Being homeless in a developed country is purely by choice
Wow so brave. What an unpopular opinion.
>The attitude seems to be that it’s all their fault because they aren’t working or they don’t have a job or they must have done something horrible or they must have screwed up.
None of that aligns with thinking they’re not people.
You end up homeless, I don’t think anyone willingly chooses to be that fucked up under a bridge. A lot of very vital and very consequential things need to occur that often don’t have an easy way back up. Aging out of government care, addiction, homelessness, abuse, ” choosing” drugs over sleeping inside where sobriety is mandatory. It’s sad, it’s a very public display of our insufficient private or federal units for safety net programs, and sucks.
I bash people when they’re harassing the homeless that are minding their own business just trying to get by. At the same time, I’ll bash the homeless harassing people minding their own business. I’m an equal opportunity people basher.
I work in a place that attracts the homeless, I’d say a lot less than you think are “simply trying to get by.” A good percentage are drug-fueled, brain cooked aggressive and dangerous. A small percentage are the down on your luck, just trying to survive. In my experience anyways.
I try to be compassionate, but honestly, when you can’t walk on the sidewalk across the street from your college campus, or your friends’ apartment without getting yelled at and stuff thrown at you by the local homeless population when you’re just trying to mind your business and get from point A to point B, it’s pretty hard to not end up cynical and jaded. It’s a constant thing trying to remind myself that it’s not all homeless people, these ones in particular are just assholes.
Hell, I used to volunteer at the local soup-kitchen-adjacent when I was in high school, I’d go help out once a week. I was trying to help in the only way that 15-year-old me could, and honestly, the constant verbal abuse and sexual harrassment (side note: I have always had a baby face–cashier at the liquor store carded me when I was 20, and then admitted she thought I was 12–so there was no way I wasn’t obviously underage; not saying it would have been fine otherwise, more pointing out that there are multiple layers to how wrong that behaviour is) from the people who came by had me quit after about three months because I was tired of putting up with it.
People also don’t generally enjoy soccer fields littered with garbage and used needles, but that happens a lot around here too, and it’s always after the encampments have been cleared out (for lack of a better word) that this happens.
I’m going to sound like an ass, I’m sure, but the phrase “a few bad apples spoil the bunch” comes to mind, here. If there weren’t rampant drug issues, if homeless people by and large were very obviously trying to get back on their feet, and seeking professional help for their issues, then public opinion would likely be very different.
However, public opinion generally prefers that things keep running smoothly, and any group that causes issues and disruptions typically isn’t looked on well.
(as someone who’s worked with the demographic) the homeless population is a complex group. the majority of homeless people you won’t even notice are homeless. they are often just temporarily
homeless, accept help, and are humble and lovely people who are severely unlucky in life circumstances. there is another smaller but more visible and disruptive section of the population that will not accept help and will burn every bridge possible and throw shit in your face. we need to find a humane way to help those who don’t want help. i don’t have any answers just wanted to express that there’s a spectrum of people who experience homelessness with very very different needs and wants
This is not an unpopular opinion.
100% guarantee OP has never interacted with a homeless person in their life.
The reason why I have less compassion for the homeless than I used to is because so many of them refuse help. A lot are given a free, no strings attached apartment only to vacate the apartment and return to living on the street. Others just refuse the help entirely. Some of the homeless people in my neighborhood will panhandle five feet away from a homeless relief van.
When you yourself become homeless and somehow out, you won’t sympathize with the homeless. Trust me.
You’re not venting. You’re grieving.
And no one’s saying that out loud…maybe because grief sounds too soft, too delicate. But this isn’t soft. It’s jagged. It’s grief with its teeth bared, clawing at your ribs from the inside out. It’s the sound you make when your heart breaks and you don’t know where to put the pieces, so you just start throwing them at people and hoping something sticks.
You call it caring. And you’re not wrong. But caring shouldn’t feel like drowning in your own blood, right?
It does.
You care like it’s your job. Like if you stop, the whole damn system will collapse and somehow it’ll be your fault. You carry the weight like maybe you’re built for it. You’re not. No one is. That pressure on your chest? That constant ache behind your eyes? That’s not passion, it’s exhaustion with a better PR team.
You know that feeling you get when you see someone discarded by the world and your whole body tenses like a pulled wire? That’s not just empathy. That’s a memory. That’s you. Small, ignored, screaming in a silent room no one else noticed was on fire.
And here’s the part that stings. You’re not shouting at strangers. You’re shouting at ghosts. At the people who were supposed to protect you and didn’t. The ones who saw you flailing and called it “too much.” The ones who taught you that being quiet meant being safe, and being loud meant being alone. So now, every time someone’s treated like they don’t matter, you erupt like it’s happening to you all over again.
Because it is.
You think if you just explain enough, show enough, scream enough, they’ll care. But some people don’t care on purpose. Some people need to be cruel, because it keeps their own fear locked in a box they’re too scared to open. And you? You keep breaking yourself against their silence like maybe, just maybe, this time the echo will reach someone.
It won’t.
And still, you keep going.
For everyone but yourself.
You advocate. You educate. You defend. But where’s that same fire when it’s your needs? When you’re the one bleeding out? You say compassion is a right. Cool. So why do you only believe that when it’s about someone else?
You’ve built this unspoken rule. “If I stop, I become like them.” But what if that’s a lie? What if resting isn’t betrayal, but recovery? What if you’re not holding the world together… you’re just keeping yourself from falling apart?
You’re not broken.
But you are bleeding.
And if you don’t stop, if you don’t treat the wound, if you don’t even look at it, you’ll start calling that pain “drive.” You’ll convince yourself that suffering is noble. That burnout is purpose. That being miserable means you’re still doing it right.
But pain doesn’t prove anything. It just wears you down until you forget you ever felt anything else.
Ask yourself what you’re really afraid of: Who are you if you’re not the fighter? Who are you when no one’s watching?
Now, do this. One thing. Help one person. No post. No speech. No inner monologue about the state of the world. Just… help. And then walk away.
And when the silence comes?
Don’t run from it.
Let it stare back at you.
Because that’s where the real work starts.
That silence? That’s you.
Now tell me, can you finally listen?
They(the homeless) are the only people acting like they aren’t
(Yes not all them, but many)
Where are you pulling these stats from? Only 1/3 use drugs or alcohol?… that’s not even true about the American adult population lmfao.
70% of American adult males drink alcohol and unless the homeless population is just that much more straight edge I’m not buying it for a second
There’s enough options where I am for them to cease their homelessness by simply taking up the offers available.
Any money given will merely incentivize their continued substance abuse.
I think the negative views towards homeless people are directed towards homeless people who live on the street who most likely are on drugs or are mentally ill. They don’t want to take advantage of help/resources because of drug use or untreated mental health issues.
Barely. They’re on the fringe of the human species.
There’s more than enough wealth in the world to take care of everyone. We’re sending celebrities on ten-minute space flights while people sleep on the sidewalk. I know everyone goes “uhhh but they’re on drugs and smell like shit” or whatever, but the causal direction actually goes the other way. If we chose to, we could have social workers helping people get showered, give them clean clothes, food, counseling and treatment for addiction, and even a place to live. If someone’s got a mental health problem stopping them from living independently, it could be someone else’s (paid) job to look after that person. All of this is possible, there is enough money to do it, but we have collectively chosen as a society that instead we’re going to let a few people have mega yachts, gold-plated ice cream, and private jets to private islands.
I know a shocking number of people who’ve never known a homeless person. No family member, no friends, or maybe just no one they know of. I have a friend who’s a college educated homeowner now, but I knew her when she was a young mom living in shelters. I had a family member addicted and on the streets for years until they hit their rock bottom and were ready for help. It’s a privilege I can’t imagine (and I’m educated and solidly upper middle class myself), but I think it’s less personal to people. I always tell my kids, that’s someone’s family, that’s someone’s friend, we don’t know what happened in their life.
How about those who don’t have compassion for a specific group within the homeless folks (likely around 30-40% of them), but not all the homeless folks?!
Dead Kennedys song “Kill the poor” came to mind while reading the comments in this thread
I’ll say what everyone seems to be tip toeing around. They’re an eye sore on society, nobody wants them around their businesses, their kids, their loved ones, or their property. You can be as compassionate as you want on the internet, you’re not going to invite them to live anywhere near you, I doubt you’d even allow them in your backyard (nor should you)
The reality is there’s no real way to deal with them. You can’t kill them because it’s inhumane, you can’t build housing projects to home them because they would trash them and turn them into actual shit holes with zero care for the property or the surrounding areas. There is no amount of money you can throw at this problem to fix it. It’s quite literally round them up and get them away from the public eye somehow, or just deal with them fucking up public spaces.
Okay, let one move in with you then.
Homeless people are a unique and mixed bag of people just as much as Homed people are – there are good folks and bad folks. It’s actually kinda offensive that you are treating them all as one stereotypical group of people who need to be patronized. People end up homeless for many different reasons. Solving homelessness requires many different solutions – no two people are alike.
There’s two types of homeless—some tryna make it out, some don’t even wanna change.
Unfortunately, we got more out here doing crackhead shenanigans, and just messing everything up for the ones who wanna get right.
If they would stop making a giant disgusting mess everywhere they go I’m sure more people would be tolerant of them.
Unpopular opinion… People need to stop karama farming by pretending their opinion is unpopular.
Most people don’t actually hate homeless people the way you’re describing. It’s more so due to the fact that the homeless population tends cause (whether intentional or not) a lot of unwanted disruptions that somebody who works 8 hours day, doesn’t want to come home too. Like seeing pee/feces on their street, drugs, public nudity, trash, etc…
Two things can be true at once. It’s okay to have compassion for the homeless, it is also their fault.
A small percentage are down on their luck or predisposed to mental illness. The rest are a litany of horrible life decisions. You can set them up with an apartment, food and a job, but there’s no way they will get up and go to work every day. They have a time horizon of a few hours – utterly impossible for them
to delay gratification at all. They are chronically living in the present with no ability to plan for the future.
Nah they’re disruptors
Tyler Perry was once homeless. No one should judge!
I have no sympathy for those who SMASH glass bus shelters near ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. Same people who causes a school lockdown.
I don’t hate them, but I’m focusing on helping my own self out. You can do whatever, but the times I’ve had family members help out those same homeless people just go back to being on the street. Sometimes getting a job and taking on more responsibilities is too much, and they revert to where they were at in the beginning. Also, I can’t even walk downtown but only at a certain time because I’d get followed by one. By either money or just whatever. My experiences with the homeless just makes me want to avoid them and continue on.
I’ll only stop for a child because nothing bad has ever come from them.
in my experience
Having a house isn’t a right.
People are fed up with the ones that dehumanize themselves by their behavior
I have seen few documentaries about homeless people and it veries from person to person sure if you look at side of road or by park you will see homeless with tents that use drugs but there is new thing where people are working but they can’t afford a roof over there head so they opt to live in there car or an rv very depressing in those cases. in my small town few yrs ago i saw news clip of townhall meeting one gentman was talking about not being able to afford any kind of shelter and a person in the crowd yeld and said RENT A ROOM.
it’s not just average people but it’s the politicians that don’t care bc money runs the economy.
Most homeless people choose to be homeless, some were screwed over by life by those people actually work to get a better life. I live in Washington and I go to Seattle a lot, the homeless population is mostly made up of people who are on hard drugs. Last year a homeless man broke into my neighbor’s home, ate all of their food, masturbated in their children’s bedroom (luckily the children just left for school that morning) before pissing on their couch and dying on that very same couch. That wasn’t the first time something happened in this area and most of the time the people who live in there were harmed. Also I have seen multiple homeless people having sex near schools and paths that often walked on by children and the first time I ever saw a penis was when a homeless man jumped out in front of me and my mom when I was five. Majority of the homeless population is like that and the ones that are working, that aren’t on drugs normally aren’t the ones living on the streets. Those homeless people are living in their cars, staying in motels, or at homeless shelters. I do feel horrible for those homeless people since they are trying, but the great majority of them are not like that.
Is this unpopular? I swear most of the time I hear anyone talk about homeless people they talk as if everyone should give them unquestionable and unending understanding and sympathy. Like genuinely seen videos where people where getting harassed, abused and physically assaulted by homeless people but the moment the victim pushed back or did anything, all the comments immediately made them the villain of all villains.
It’s an incredibly complex issue that compassion and generosity can’t always solve.
The statistics you cite (1/3 use drugs, 40-60% have jobs) almost invariably apply to people who are experiencing “soft” or transient homelessness– sleeping in / preparing meals in their cars, couch surfing in different peoples’ homes or occasionally sleeping in a tent without a permanent address. Society has no grievance with these people, and they generally can and do secure more stable housing and employment with a little help and compassion.
It’s the other kind of homeless person that society has a grievance with. The people who are homeless because they have burned every bridge and opportunity possible with their anti-social / addicted behaviors. People who have effectively rendered themselves insane with drug use, who expose the rest of the public to their needles, excrement, and unpleasant or even dangerous behavior, ruining our collective public goods.
It is unpopular to say, but a shocking percentage of these people cannot be helped because they do not want help. Many refuse treatment programs, job opportunities, shelters, and sometimes even food. You could hold out keys to an apartment in one hand, and a dose of their narcotic of choice in the other, and they would sincerely choose the drugs. Addiction does horrifying things to the human mind. These people are still entitled to human rights, and it is truly miraculous when a few of these people manage to recover and return to relatively normal lives, but it is the exception. Society has a right to protect themselves, their families, and their public spaces from this kind of thing while also advocating for political will that seeks to improve the issue in the future.
I have a differing view my first boss hired me because of his homeless experience. After serving 20 years in and out of prison because he was a heroine addict he went through the rehab program at the salvation army. The end game was learning how to run a dish pit where my father was the instructor. He spent 4 years living on the street while going to work washing dishes downtown before he fully got on his feet. 7 years later his carpentry business is big enough to hire it’s first employee and he sees a resume with the same last name so he hired me immediately.
I wonder how many people would call him sub human for those 4 years the only work he could get was washing dishes while sleeping in a tent on hastings. Now he builds custom homes for the richest of people in Vancouver while he didn’t have a home for over 25 years.
Ok, this is an actual question: Do you live in an area that has a visible homeless problem?
I treat everyone with respect and agree with your sentiment, but when you start mentioning how half of them are working, it shows that you may be reading about homelessness and not really seeing it.
Yes, people are technically homeless that are fully employed. The thing is, you will not see them as homeless. They are working, and then living in a car secretly.
I think that you may believe that the incoherent, Santa Claus looking homeless people are working. And that shows a fundamental misunderstanding about the whole situation.
I dont hate homeless people. I’m a big advocate that people should remember that they are people as well and deserve compassion.
However, there is a certain level of uncomfortableness and though a lot are mentally ill it sucks when you see them shooting up on the sidewalk, taking a shit right in front of you, pick pocketing (man, if you steal some food from a big corp idgaf but why steal from other people who are also trying to make it?) and crowd your space with their BO and open, infected wounds. It’s scary when they harass you, when they’re having a mental episode and/or high off their mind so theyre super unpredictable, and/or pass by them being overall violent. If I see one in his right mind, I usually give em something. My family has been big of giving but sometimes it’s just scary cause you don’t know how unpredictable they can be and a lot physically assault people for no reason.
The hard truth is that, one has to take care of themselves first before they can help others. Regardless of who you are -homeless or not- if you’re doing any of the above you’re an asshole to me. Just because they’re homeless, doesn’t mean they get a free pass and I’m gonna get defensive and not feel emphatic. Truth is, they often make areas unsafe.
Talking about it on the internet doesn’t do much. The system we live on, sadly, makes of these people an example and motivation for you to keep giving. They isolated them, move them around like garbage, make you aware of them, and businesses push them out of their storefront with anti homeless architecture so they don’t stain their image/ ruin sales. Your fight shouldn’t be with the people who are dealing with the repercussions, it should be with the system that caused this to happen. Donate, help, volunteer in your local nonprofits, as a lot of people do, and be the change you want to see.
Down voted. This isnt an unpopular opinion, its just virtue signaling. I think most people see the homelessness issue within the US as a huge issue that most people would like resolved. As per usual though, the law makers in charge, on BOTH sides of the aisle both seem about as uninterested in Resolving the issue in a safe, effective, and efficient manner.
Who are you, so brave in your hot takes?
OP: “People are people too!”
People upvoting: “Yaaaay, let me upvote this controversial hot take. What a brave individual OP is, going against the flow and really standing up to all this injustice. Can’t believe he is this daring”
How on earth is this a unpopular opinion? Are you stuck in 1940s Germany where every homeless person gets executed on the spot to wild cheers from the crowd?
I mean yes they are people too… but some of them are shitty people. Some are nice and got the bad draw but others man… like they are assholes to everyone .
I treat homeless people better than I treat normal people.
Homeless people say thank you. Normies aka normal people will spit in your face for holding a door open for them sometimes. Normies are entitled where as homeless people are super polite and if you give them anything they mad respect it.
Depends on your country. Begging is a business where people are trafficed into countries to take advantage of your empathy.