“you also do that” implies the above isn’t actually a myth.
Seriously though, there are at least three groups of homeless with some overlap:
- people who had a hard time, lost everything, but if given opportunity they will use it to recover
- addicts, for whom the addiction drive them to homelessness, they need to go to rehab, before they can be helped (seems like this meme refers to them)
- mentally ill, who don’t have family, or family doesn’t care about them. They need medical attention. Those are the hardest especially since most don’t want to be helped
addicts, for whom the addiction drive them to homelessness, they need to go to rehab, before they can be helped (seems like this meme refers to them)
The meme refers to the people who believe every homeless person falls into this category and not the other two.
Also, long term use of certain substances will often lead to permanent mental impairment
Having a home makes it far easier to kick an addiction.
Do you think if you got addicted, it would be easier for you to kick the addiction if you kept your home, or if you lost it? Same thing with mental illness or any other problem.
Addicts destroy everything they’re around though. It’s easy to say “oh just give them a house”, until they’ve pulled all the drywall off and ripped all the copper out of the walls to sell for a fix, broken all the windows, and generally destroyed the place.
I wish, some of it gets squandered on rent.
No, I spend that money on sweets and soda, which will kill me much faster than alcohol and drugs would
Overdosing on sweets will get you diabetes. Overdosing on drugs and alcohol will get you death.
And diabetes never killed anyone.
oh thank god
Overdosing on sweets will get you diabetes.
You think diabetes doesn’t mean death?
Not as quickly, no.
Neither does drug addiction.
Sure, if you overdose it does.
…and if you can’t afford insulin, diabetes will kill you even faster.
I spent most of my money on booze, fdm printing, and video games. The rest of it I wasted.
My father gave money to a panhandler when I was a young adult (when I had almost no money to spare). I asked if it bothered him how the money might be spent. His words: “If he needs a bottle to get through the night, who am I to judge?”
That had a profound effect on me. I don’t give money to everyone who asks. But I give a hell of a lot more because of that statement. My father was a teetotaler, fwiw.
Absolutely. If I lived on the streets, I’d want to do practically anything to take my mind off of it. Drugs and alcohol are an easy escape.
lol most are on the streets because of drugs and alcohol, not the inverse
what’s a “teetotaler”??
At this point, professional panhandlers are a much worse stigma. There aren’t many, but you can bet the panhandlers in the best spots, the most outgoing ones, are the pros.
Actually, I’ve found that I don’t even have a choice about whether to trust that someone is truly in need, since I almost never carry cash
But yeah, I mostly gave up when a guy asked for $5 for food at McDonalds and I got him food from McDonalds, and he tossed it on the ground and vandalized my car. It turns out he was one of the most notorious professional panhandlers in my city, and most definitely NOT in need. I decided I can’t tell or I’m a sucker, but it’s probably more effective to help organizations who do this every day
when I was on the streets I could not believe just how much money professional panhandlers made.
I’m talking like a couple of hundred a day, depending on the time of month and the location.
I myself could never participate in panhandling, even as a junkie I had self respect lol
I was always worried about someone I knew noticing, but some people have zero problems begging for money, the beggars would brag about how soft people were, especially older women, zero respect
I’ve been clean for over 10 yrs and my sober life is great, all of these panhandlers are addicts, they are all redeemable
Excellent job getting out from under that!
I have no idea what a ‘professional panhandler’ is, but if standing on a traffic island inhaling fumes all day and having abuse and sometimes trash hurled at you, hoping no one jumps the island and runs you over, asking people for money makes you a living, good for you I guess. Not the way I would do it.
If I waste my money on a professional, I feel like I got ripped off. I may no longer trust the people truly in need or be less likely to help. I AM less likely. These people are a scourge.
A professional panhandler is exactly what it sounds like - people who turn it into a “job”. They’re scam artists. My city’s newspapers have done profiles on a few over the years, and those “professionals” tend to be quite comfortable. Again, relatively few but tend to be high profile, more active at their “sales pitch”. If you see a homeless person NOT trying to panhandle, they are much more likely legitimately in need
I question how comfortable you possibly could be doing that all day.
Why would it be all day? A key spot at rush hour or lunch hits the crowd, and someone outgoing and personable will make that pay. I’d even say that if you do see someone all day they are much more likely to be legit. Maybe even if you see someone with “sales skills”, you need to be cautious
I would be very surprised if you earned much more than a full time minimum wage job doing it for a few hours a day.
If in an hour they get 4 five dollar donations, that’s $20/hr. Think about how many cars you see stop to donate each light change. If you think it’s not lucrative you’re being disingenuous.
Another way to look at it. That McDonald’s right there is hiring, and this guy stands outside panhandling all day. He’s already there, why not get a job at the McD’s? Market pressure, there’s more to be made with way less effort standing on the median making people feel bad.
Panhandling needs to be made to be a waste of time for people. It’s dangerous, abusive, and an annoyance.
ALTERNATIVELY, social programs need to be expanded greatly in order to actually help people so that panhandling isn’t even necessary in the first place.
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Also, it keeps them warmer than we as a society do. Just let them have an escape, they lost everything already.
“If they’re just gonna drink, smoke, snort, or inject shit, then why should I give them the same money I was gonna use to drink, smoke, snort and inject shit? I’ll just buy the drinks, smokes, coke and heroin and we can do them together.”
Therefore…
…YOU are homeless!
By the transitive properties of tequila and codine, you are now homeless!
I don’t. So, I should stop giving money to homeless? I am confused.
No… clearly you should start doing drugs and alcohol.
Best advice I’ve read on Lemmy so far.
Maybe he should become homeless first?
I mean, as someone who enjoys drinking and occasionally other legal drugs, I have to admit OP has made me second guess my POV a bit.
No, OP’s claim is bogus. Sure, I do use a small portion of my income for vices, for escapism, just like most people. But I don’t use it instead of food. I don’t use it to the extent that it keeps me from paying for the rest of life. I don’t use it to the extent that I can’t function in society.
There’s a huge difference between wasting some money on a vice/escapism, and that vice/escapism becoming your life. I don’t know if it’s just addiction or desperation, or how close we could all be to that pit of despair, but there is clearly a huge difference between using a bad habit to cope with life and your bad habit becoming your life
And? I couldn’t care less if you are a rich drunk. But if you are living off the state you should be drinking limited quantities or have friends paying for you. You are a burden on the system.
Or, the system failed to get them the help they needed to stabilize their lives and be productive. The burden is the system that is broken, not the people it failed.
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Lol. Weak.
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Child killer.
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You are a burden on the system.
Are you seriously afraid drunk homeless people are the ones getting too much of the government’s budget? If so, I’ve got a B-2 Bomber to sell you.
Oh I guess you can only have one single drain on a system.
Why should you be drinking limited quantities?
What does it matter if you are a burden to the system or not with that you consume?
Why the fuck should I pay for your alcoholism?
Why not? No, seriously, why not?
Firstly, YOU specifically, are not. Your taxes are. The same taxes used to bomb brown people and fund the murder of children. The same taxes that are used to pay the fire department to rescue kitties from trees.
You aren’t paying for any of that. Are you suggesting that you should be directly responsible and accountable for the innocent people we kill on death row and the children soldiers we create? If so, what punishment would be appropriate for your part in those atrocities?
If you deny being part of those, what claim do you have on the money given to those in need?
So, I ask again: why not? It certainly isn’t anything to do with what you’re paying for.
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Correct, your taxes aren’t you paying.
If it was, you would be personally liable for the police who break into random houses and kill brown women.
You pay taxes. You vote for people. But you don’t pay the police.
So, either you’re saying you don’t want to pay taxes - which is a whole different problem - or you answer the question. What’s your problem with people drinking? (Expensive habit? Hah! You think… Wait - just how poor are you?! 😂 no, no, don’t answer that, it’s off topic. You still haven’t answered the first and only question I’ve posed to you.)
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Lol. Weak and pathetic.
