this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2023
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I've started getting angry when people declare that they refuse to give money to people begging because they'll just use it on drugs. More because of how frequently it comes up.
They aren't obliged to help anyone but just assuming every homeless person is a drug addict is so condescending.
And even if they were they are still a person and the money they beg for will is some part contribute to feeding them. You can't subsist off of drugs.
I see the same people burn money on the dumbest shit but act like giving money to homeless people is a sin against God.
If a homeless person is going to use that money for drugs or alcohol, good. I would too if I was homeless and needed to forget it for a little while.
What about people who are homeless because of drugs and alcohol? Is it morally justified to be codependent?
You've got it backwards. Drug addiction is a symptom of unfulfilled needs, not so much the other way around. See this short video on the "Rat Park Experiment".
No happy, fulfilled person is going to say one day "I think I'll go be a heroin addict." People who can't get their basic needs fulfilled use drugs (and other addictive things) as a substitute for the fulfilling things they can't access for other reasons.
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this short video on the "Rat Park Experiment"
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Can you explain how never giving a homeless person any money will elevate them from their plight?
If not, then giving them money is, at worst, incidental and, at best, an improvement to their situation.
I don’t give money to homeless people anymore.
I used to work near a shelter and I’d get chased and harassed for money, I got threatened and yelled at regularly, and I got mugged once. Now being around the homeless makes me incredibly uneasy.
I donate to food banks and the shelters, but no way am I ever giving some unaccountable homeless person cash. If they want my help they can go through the proper channels, I know many won’t, but I don’t have the tools to find or help those people.
And you're not obliged to. There's nothing immoral about not going out of your way to help people especially at risk to yourself.
While they are people and should be treated with dignity and not like animals, they are still people and like any stranger can be dangerous and unpredictable, especially in desperation.
Not to mention at least near where I live about a third of the homeless are mentally ill due to the state's incapacity to care for such people.
It's similar where I live.
I feel bad mainly supporting the shelters because there are a lot of stories about people who go in and get robbed or assaulted and they avoid them after. They tend to build camps which get perennially torn down by the city/cops. I wish there was a better way to help those people.
The only reason not to give food, clothing, or cash is because I’m already late for work or I have nothing to spare right now. I try to find something even if it’s just a smoke or something.
Assuming those other people are all bad or at the very least less than the good people?
Using that as a reason to not help people? And love sharing it?
Using the same money on dumb wasteful shit for yourself?
I think the people you’re running into are just run of the mill conservatives.