Scuzz
2002
There several private and public services available here. Sure they are having money problems but what public service agencies wouldn’t like more money.
I don’t know conditions everywhere. But I have seen how it is here. There are homeless who are not they way by choice and they have available services, not abundant services but available. There are others who would rather be homeless than be told what to do. They are either mentally ill or “free spirits” for lack of a better phrase.
Scuzz
2003
Ask any group that runs a shelter. That is what they will tell you.
Well, that certainly answers that!
And most will also tell you that is because they need services to become functional (and in some cases that may not even be possible, the goal may be to become manageable in a group situation) that are far above the services the shelter can provide, which is usually a bed and a meal.
They do ask, why does this person keep needing a bed and a meal? That is the question really.
AlanQ
2006
No alcohol/no drugs can literally kill addicts. Many/most homeless people have an addiction. I’m not surprised they wouldn’t want to stay in an environment that might actually kill them, and will make them sick.
It’s staggering to me find people that actually believe in the myth of “poor people choose to be poor.” That is, essentially, what you are saying, before you stutter out that “I’m putting words in your mouth!”
However, handwaving away the very real drastic shortages these services are facing as “money problems” is as casual as it is cruel.
Hobo-american, indeed.
Queeg
2008
I’d be curious to hear what the author would say is the point of the article.
If it’s simply a vignette of a guy down on his luck and drawn to OWS in hopes of finding kindred spirits, then it’s certainly very well done and thought provoking.
But if it’s supposed to be an object lesson in the justification for OWS, then it seems misguided. The dilemma of the central character is not one that OWS - or any other political or social movement - can solve. He’s simply a lost soul, who doesn’t appear even to have sought out the sorts of social services we already offer. He didn’t slip through the safety net; he skipped it.
V for Vendetta’s Alan Moore and David Lloyd, the “godfathers” of the Occupy movement, have joined Occupy Comics.
You mean like the ones that I work with, all the time? Funny, they’ve never mentioned it.
You want to play battling anecdotes, it’s your move. Or, you can double down on the stupid. Whichever.
He also responded rather awesomely to Frank Miller.
Burn.
http://www.badhaven.com/comics/comic-news/alan-moore-responds-to-frank-millers-occupy-rant/
V for Vendetta was a good movie.
I’d be slightly less annoyed by a bunch of protesters smoking on the lawn while not having taken a shower for a month if they were wearing guy fawkes masks.
Originally Posted by Alan Moore
“Well, Frank Miller is someone whose work I’ve barely looked at for the past twenty years. I thought the Sin City stuff was unreconstructed misogyny, 300 appeared to be wildly ahistoric, homophobic and just completely misguided. I think that there has probably been a rather unpleasant sensibility apparent in Frank Miller’s work for quite a long time.
I’m tired of the attitude of, “I disagree with this person, so I’m going to bash everything they’ve done for the past twenty years.” I get annoyed at the idea of retroactively hating someone’s work based on whatever their position happens to be that you disagree with. It’s just childish.
Frank Miller is a hack though.
I very much doubt Moore is retroactively hating on Miller. Knowing Moore’s frequently expressed tastes and passions he would have naturally been dismissive of most of Miller’s work long before this latest outburst.
Basically Moore has been thoroughly left wing for as long as Miller has been thoroughly right wing and they have both been familiar enough with each others work and opinions since the 80’s. They shared artists on occasion and even once found common political cause in opposition to the censorship of comics.
Houngan
2016
I think where this comes from is that in the bottom 20% there is a very, very thin slice of people who do indeed say “Fuck it, good enough.” and live on the teat. Scuzz and his ilk see a news report on these people and assign the same lack of motivation to the rest of the cohort, when in fact the 10% above them need job training and opportunity to work, and the 9% below them need mental health services, addiction counseling, and yes, occasional institutionalization to help them either re-enter society or at least thrive within their own parameters.
I walk a few miles every day through downtown Louisville, usually stopping at the main branch of the library where the homeless congregate after the shelters kick them out. It’s a diverse lot and I wouldn’t assign any characteristic to them as a group, except for “poor.” They are universally defined as not having money. Some dress pretty sharp, some look like dirty hipsters, some are having conversations with their psychoses, some are obviously marking time between the next fix, and some are reading and trying to figure out how to get out of their situation. There’s really no common thread to them other than their being trapped in their situation for the time being.
That, and there are no Asians.
H.
The numbers are absolutely tiny in an absolute sense, though.
The UK’s long-term (5+ year) unemployment benefit claimant count, who are NOT disabled, is about 4000. For that kind of number, hundreds of millions are spent on harassing most of the people in the cohort.
Jibble
2018
So you’re saying the criticism of Miller’s work is incorrect? You’ve seen/read Sin City, no?
I’m pretty sure Alan Moore isn’t joining some kewl Frank Miller backlash. Alan Moore has always been a bit more left than a lot of people. Like a lot.
I can easily believe it when he says he’s always disliked Miller’s work.
Not saying it is incorrect, but did he say it before now? If he didn’t I can see someone thinking he is just jumping on the bandwagon to talk badly of him now.
