Just so you know, there’s no soap in the bathrooms because the patrons couldn’t resist decorating in Late Pink Antibacterial. So if you wanna bathe in the sink, ya gotta bring your own. 
(It’s honestly a very nice library with wonderful resources and a lot of community support; the “regular patrons” are only a small number of the many, many people who walk through the doors every day.)
Zsofia, I used to work in a bookstore that was located near
1.) a liquor store
2.) a crosstown bus stop and
3.) a park.
Every day we’d have to deal with scary threatening people. So I know where you’re coming from. Some of these people weren’t mentally ill or down on their luck so much as they were simply violent criminals who liked to drink.
Sure some homeless people suck. But the key word is some. When Kel started the thread complaining about a strange woman in his apartment most people were sympathetic. (more or less.) But then when he said this:
he got the ass-whupin’ he deserved.
To be fair, I realize you get this. And I get your point that sometimes when you get into a discussion about the homeless, you occaisionaly do run into people who–inspired by some particularly sappy Hallmark Hall of Fame movie perhaps–seem to treat the homeless as though they were all saints and angels; a view as dumb as, but not as reprehensible as, Kel’s bigotry.
Fuck you.
Formerly homeless person here. I was not homeless because I was lazy, nor even because I was crazy, and I would and did take any jobs I could get, none of which propelled me out of homelessness (although eventually college did).
Homeless shelters are often dangerous places, and don’t help you get out of homelessness either, for the most part.
It could happen to you tomorrow, unless you’ve got several years’ worth of salary salted away in a safe account to draw upon, or other assets equal to that that you could liquidate and live off. Many many people do not.
Doesn’t work that way, Kel. Posting a rant doesn’t mean you own it. Others get to respond . Public rant; public response. You don’t get to call off the thread the minute it doesn’t go the way you wanted.
You wrote what you wrote. Either stand by it, listen to what others say and consider your stance or whatever. Your choice.
But here’s a hint: tossing molotov cocktails involves a certain risk of inadvertantly burning oneself.
TVeblen
Pit mod
Logic check on this statement. If some of the homeless are unlikeable then it’s reasonable to dislike some of the homeless. (We can argue percentages)
But despising the homeless as a class because some are unlikable is stupid. It’s simple bigotry.
I hate having to keep my perfect sig for four more years when really cool ones like the above suggest themselves.
I worked in a public library. When one of the homeless guys threateded me, I later stole his sleeoing bag from our garden shed he was sleeping in and through it over the park fence. We’d seen him going and and out on the security tape.
Management made them leave by requiring valid ID to get a key for out toilets. I thought it was grossly unfair.
On the other hand, when a guy had his crutches stolen I took some to him.
There are all kinds of people that are homesless and that work at libraries.
While my state is one of the highest in giving charity, it doesn’t provide enough for shelters. The city government is planning to raid the areas where the homeless live by the river.
Oh good god. This from a guy who defends the idea of a father wanting to have sex with his daughter?
Jesus.
BTW, Kel, how do you know she was homeless? How do you know she wasn’t just lost?
Kel has advocated child abuse and incest? Please link to the threads. I have to admit there’s a sick part of me that wants to see 'em.
Fathers - Do you want to have sex with your daughter? (TMI, I think)
Why can’t thread ask about a father wanting to have sex with his daughter?
In Kel’s defense (did I just write that?), this whole father-daughter attraction thing is in the Greek tragedies and Freud and the subject of college classroom discussions. On the other hand, he broached the topic in a rather glib and dumb manner.
Yeah, I don’t think Kel actually advocated child abuse and incest. I think he just has a morbid imagination, and an inability to express himself clearly.
None of that excuses the bigotry he’s shown in this thread.
Then why don’t we try harder to help each other win at the game of life?
I don’t think it matters WHY someone is homeless, really. Lazy, dumb, ill, victim of rotten luck, what does it matter? If someone doesn’t have a home, and we have the power to get them into one, aren’t we obligated to help them, as a society? Isn’t that the *purpose * of society, to help each other?
Sure, some people will always end up right back on the street no matter how many times we give them a hand, but I don’t feel that excuses us from trying to help. Sort of sounds like, “Hey, I don’t have to help, it’s not going to do any good…these people are [crazy, sick, stupid, whatever] so I’m not even going to bother.”
If we do nothing to put an end to homelessness, then we have failed as a society. If we keep on trying and doing our best, even if we never get 100% off people off the streets for good, we have achieved success.
I know which team I’d rather be on.
PS - I’m not saying I’m offering to rent out my home as a shelter or that I’m a out there handing out toques every night, but let’s do what we can, right?
::: applauds Heather for stating so eloquently how society should strive to work :::
Beautiful.
Incest, maybe not. But child abuse? (I was going to link to one post, but then I couldn’t really decide - it starts at the second post and snowballs from there.) I don’t care who you worship, beating a ten-month old child is not an act of love.
faithfool - Thank you for your post. I really do think that if anyone can make it out of such an awful situation, it’s you. You’re a very strong, brave person.
Good going, Heather. faithfool, you’re an inspiration.
Kel… nah. I got no words.
Holy Crap! I didn’t know (or maybe forgot) about that thread. Well that’s it, man. Kel is an ass. Jesus tap-dancing Christ. There are just no words.
I love the part where he asks if someone else has crossed the line by “acting like a jerk.”
Isn’t there something from the bible about not being able to see the mote in the eye of another because you have your head shoved so far up your ass?
Or, I have an idea. Here, listen. What if we took all the homeless people and put them in one area…you know, like a camp? Or if we let them wander free, they would have to wear a patch that designated them as homeless? Just so YOU could know the bad from the good.
Yeah, yeah, they’re humans, let’s not treat them like cattle…right? But why not? All the homeless do is steal and commit crime. That’s it. LET’S ROUND 'EM UP. IT’S FOR THE GOOD OF AMERICA!
:wally
Sometimes Godwinizing is not only acceptable, but desperately justified, jarbabyj.
I mean if a poster is actually (coming close to) emulating Nazi ideology, calling him a Nazi isn’t Godwinizing, it’s being accurate.