I live in a country where state governments pay for advertising to encourage people to pull over on a long drive and having a nap by the side of the road. That’s not to say within major cities we aren’t increasingly seeing the same “fuck you, homeless person!” tendencies, but at least those who can afford a car are protected.
Sigh.
Why help people when we can round up undesirables and drop them off at the neighboring city? It’s a bit like raking leaves, just blow them into your neighbor’s yard and hope your neighbors aren’t doing the same to your yard.
I think it is because homeless people aren’t viewed at human beings. They are just an eyesore that is inconveniencing businesses and bringing local property values down. Nobody wants to visit a shop if there are always homeless people around, so the shop owners complain. Sometimes it escalates and there is real political pressure so you end up with laws that address the immediate complaint rather than comprehensive reform of how we treat people in our community.
Took a walk in my neighborhood
Two in the morning
By the Skytrain Station
The streets were full of junkies and homeless
And they all wanted something
They all wanted something
And what am I supposed to do?
There are too many of you
Too many of you
Yeah, sometimes look you in the eye
Say that, “I too am human, I could easily be you”
Although we all hover between apathy and compassion
We fill up all our days with so much distraction
What makes it easier not to see what we don’t want to
But we all live here
We all live here
We all live, don’t we?
Took a walk in my neighborhood
Two in the morning
By the Skytrain Station
The streets were full of junkies and homeless
And they all wanted something
They all wanted something
And what am I supposed to do?
There are too many of you
Too many of you
Yeah, sometimes look you in the eye
Say that, "I too am human, I could easily be you”
”I could easily be you, I could easily be you”
Honestly I think it’s worse than that. I think it’s suffering that is fetishized and as we sink as a nation the most important thing to the average person is to be able to witness someone suffering worse than them. Basically the same impulse that had pricy seats in pubs by the window where you could watch the day’s hangings. Humans haven’t changed much: they’re stupid, petty, cruel, evil, nasty, hairless monkeys and they always will be. I hate my species so much but paradoxically I don’t want the stupid ugly monkeys to suffer. According to society this is the crazy position to be in and perhaps it is true. How much easier it seems to me to not torture other humans for amusement, but eh… I’m kind of accepting that I’m not fully human at this point. I’m like halfway there but someone injected empathy into my system and now I’m never going to be happy again. Because apparently the only source of joy allowed in this country is the suffering and pain of others.
Ethnicity is a factor. Latinx often sleep in their cars while unemployed or between shifts. During the recession, some localities made it illegal to repo a vehicle if the debtor was living in it, but more have made it illegal to sleep in a vehicle.
Contrast two neighboring counties: Whitfield, GA uses heat cameras to bust vehicle dwellers and sends homeless to jail if shelters are full. Neighboring Murray has police and preachers who will pay for a night’s lodging for an indigent of any color passing through. As a lodging employee, I’ve seen this repeatedly.
This goes hand-in-hand with mowing down tent cities on public land. Portapotties, a dumpster, faucet, and routine patrols would reduce the public nuisance behavior.
Oh no, we’re not handing out bootstraps. They have to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.
I was going to say that jails are warm, but then I saw GA. In some places, that’s a great use for jails, assuming the stay is voluntary.
Please tell me how it helps unemployed or employed homeless to burden them with a criminal record.
Criminal record, no.
But I’ve lived in cold places where if there was space in the jail, people who needed a warm space could spend the night, for free.
Americans are also afraid of the mentally ill and developmentally disabled. And to some extent the elderly.
If you cant see the monsters, theyre not there.
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