This could be an all-purpose, catch all thread about asshole hateful people, but I’ll start it off with the dickheads who are spreading the idea that just because a man at a soup kitchen is taking a cell phone picture of the First Lady who’s behind the counter dishing up food, that gee, homeless people must not have it so bad after all (“he’s got a nicer cell phone than I do!”).
One example. Notice the “but…” in the title. The comments pick up on that, and are full of hateful jerks.
Luckily not everyone is a brain-dead neanderthal, and several people point out that
maybe he’s not homeless, maybe he’s a volunteer.
maybe he just got laid off and still has some of his old life possessions.
maybe he is homeless, and his friends or family bought him a cell phone to keep in touch.
maybe it’s a pre-paid cell phone. I have a Tracfone and while mine is not a camera phone, I could get one if I wanted. The Motorola C261 is only $19.99 and comes with a camera. With a Tracfone you get free long distance, and there are no activation fees, no contracts, no monthly bills and no credit checks are needed to activate one, meaning that a homeless person could have one without having a fixed address. You buy a card with minutes at the same time you buy the phone. A homeless person would hoard the minutes using them only for job interviews and emergencies. Even if he couldn’t get one himself, there are agencies that provide pre-paid phones for homeless/poor people.
some other perfectly reasonable explanation.
The point is there are many reasons why someone at a homeless shelter/soup kitchen might have a cell phone, even a camera cell phone, but these hateful people don’t stop for a second to think. They just want to be hateful. It’s their nature. They fucking suck as human beings.
It’s this generation of hateful people’s “Welfare Queens” meme.
Not to mention that you could easily spend more on payphones than a pre-paid cell. Nor that if you are looking for work, having a phone is pretty much indispensable. And that payphones are rapidly disappearing from the urban landscape. And that you can’t eat your cellphone, nor can you sleep in it or underneath it.
Yeah, you’d have to be pretty desperate to pawn or sell a cheap cell phone. Not that some people wouldn’t, but most people would know it’s better to have some way for a potential employer to reach them than not.
Edit to add: I scorn and pity them Todderbob. To have such a black black heart and no soul whatsoever is truly Pitiful.
Reminds me of the time when someone wrote Dear Abby or Ann Landers or whoever and complained that they saw someone in line at the grocery store buy fresh strawberries with foodstamps. They were indignant, and Ann/Abby told them to go fuck themselves or something.
Reminds me of a story a friend told me recently. He is a community mental health worker. One of his clients is an unfortunate psychotic, who before his sudden onset psychosis was a very high powered young businessman. It amuses my friend that when he visits the guy at home he is always dressed in a suit worth several thousand dollars, that he himself couldn’t dream of owning, because he “didn’t lose his wardrobe when he lost his mind.”
Last time he saw him the client had an expensive leather briefcase by his chair. My friend asked what was in it and the client replied, “important papers.” My friend asked if he could see them. The client opened the beautiful briefcase to reveal a dead seagull. He had no idea how long it had been there.
Ma sees a lot of people that beg for stuff. They don’t have money for gas, food, or housing, but they use their pay as you go phones for up to half an hour while they wait. The conversations are friends chatter not business. As a side note they receive more people lying than telling the truth. I know this because this place keeps records of what they have already done for you. I’ll stop here or the stories won’t stop.
I of all people realize that when your income stops coming in you have nice things yet that attrition removes. Cell phones are one of those things where a contract often makes it stupid to end early. If you have it, use it while you can.
If you’re looking for work and you have no landline, a cell phone is a smart thing to have. Actually, even if you’re just a lazy bum, it’s not a bad thing to have. Life on the streets is lonely and dangerous.
And if I’m not mistaken, this is just a soup kitchen, correct? It’s possible to have housing but be too broke for food.
People like to justify why they don’t do anything to help other people. This cell phone picture gives them the opportunity to feel righteous while being venal.
I can’t speak to the homeless person incident, but I am reminded of a clip I saw the other day about Minta Garcia, the school bus driver who can’t make the payments on her $800,000 house and who wants the government to impose a moratorium on foreclosures.
Yes, it’s possible that Ms. Garcia’s husband is a doctor who was recently laid off, but it seems more likely to me that she and her husband were just irresponsible and/or greedy. I would be willing to bet serious money that her mortgage application contains a significant exaggeration or two.
Do I hate her? No, but I admit feeling a bit resentful that Americans who did not splurge on granite countertops are being asked to help pay for those of Ms. Garcia.
You might want to quit listening to Michelle “I proudly pose with someone holding an Obama Swastika symbol sign” Malkin. It’s her job to lie to the dim fawning faithful lapdogs who would rather get all poutraged than learn the truth.
From President Obama’s foreclosure speech (the whole thing is worth a read):
You could read the whole thing, where he outlines his plan, or you could go ahead and continue to use the people who abuse the system as an excuse to not help anybody. Go ahead and use your own good fortune as an excuse to avoid propping up losers who aren’t as fabulously wonderful as you are.
Why, I wouldn’t know what to expect from someone who denies racist global warming!
Seriously, though, what Monstro said is right-on. Even if the man is a bum, fuck people that would begrudge him a lousy cheap cell phone. The streets are hard and cold.
Well, this thread’s over. Sorry Equipoise, it actually had potential. But now that brazil84 is here, it’s about to get completely derailed. Sad, really.
How about I listen to her as well as to people (such as yourself?) who have differing views?
Probably most pundits (and politicians) spin and exaggerate. Which is why it’s a bit ironic that you would accept Obama’s words at face value. I’m skeptical of Michelle Malkin and Obama too.
I will take a look then. By the way, my comment about being asked to pay for Ms. Garcia’s countertops was more in response to her comments than to Obama’s plan.
But anyway, in the mean time, let me ask you this.
Suppose there is a hypothetical family which, a couple years ago, bought a house for $400,000 with little or no money down. They could not afford the payments on a fixed rate mortgage so they took out one of those adjustible rate mortgages which gives you low payments for 3 years and after that, the interest rate floats. Well, the 3 years are just about up and the family will not be able to afford the higher payments. Not only that, but the house is appraised at only $380,000 now so it’s difficult or impossible to refinance.
Would you characterize this family as “responsible” or “irresponsible”?
Those aren’t the only options. In any event, I’m not necessarily opposed to helping people, either personally or through government action. I’m simply resentful at some of the help which is being requested or offered.
And brazil84 has decided to move the thread from “I Pit hateful people” to “Let’s discuss the mortgage bailout!”, which is more interesting to him. Everybody follow along now!