I’ve actually skipped work just to help a homeless guy get his beard trimmed. Bought him pizza too. Kinda hard to get anywhere in life when you look like shit.

Be kind to the homeless, they just need a helping hand here and there.

What would you do?

  • over_clox@lemmy.worldOP
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    4 months ago

    Want a little plot twist? Everyone is addicted to something or another. Why is caffeine legal, but cocaine illegal? People piss money away at Starbucks while dissing the homeless.

      • over_clox@lemmy.worldOP
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        4 months ago

        There’s also the fact that instead of buying a $20 cup of coffee, you can get a $2 or so cup of coffee at most any old random gas station, and still have money left to buy 2 or 3 burgers to feed a couple homeless people instead.

        • corroded@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          I don’t want to buy 2 or 3 burgers to feed homeless people. I mentioned this in another comment, but the group of people who are homeless and the group of people who are addicted to meth, heroin, whatever are largely the same group, maybe with a few outliers. Why the hell would I want to buy lunch for someone who’s going to go out and rob or harass someone for $20 so they can go buy a bag of their drug of choice?

          People like myself (and others in this comment section) don’t hate the homeless. We hate drug addicts who shit all over society (sometimes literally) in order to get their next fix.

          Here’s an experiment you can try: The next time you see a homeless person begging for money so they can buy some food, refuse to give them money and offer to buy them food instead. They’re probably going to call you a piece of shit and if you’re lucky, they might leave you alone after that, but probably not.

          People need to have sympathy for the homeless, but not for addicts. We should have social programs to house the homeless, as long as they can pass a drug test. Food banks, work-placement programs, they should all exist and be taxpayer funded, as long as those using them can pass a drug test.

    • abbadon420
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      There are very good reasons why some addictive substances are legal and others are not.

      First of all, those under the influence of nicotine or caffeine can function perfectly normal. Those under the influence of many other drugs can not.

      Second, the health impact are generally less severe. We’ve generally changed our opinion of the health impact of nicotine being negligible, but caffeine and alcohol can still be enjoyed in moderate amounts without too much of an impact on your health.

      Third, cafeine and alcohol are socially acceptable in most cases. Many otger drugs are less socially acceptable. Nicotine is a nice example how the social status of a drug can change over time

      • over_clox@lemmy.worldOP
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        4 months ago

        Elon Musk does ketamine, so please do tell me more about the association between homelessness and drug usage…

        • abbadon420
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          Elon Musk can afford a ketamine addiction. Most people can not.

            • abbadon420
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              4 months ago

              Yes and the US government’s annual army budget could feed every homeless person on the planet. And the combined gold reserve of all Swiss banks could shelter the homeless for life.

              I could probably come up with a dozen more valid but pointless comparisons, but there’s literally no point.