Please Don't Feed our Bums

@Cycloptichorn,

Cycloptichorn wrote:

The State is a community.

Obviously not the type of local community I'm referring to, nor the type that hawkeye seemed to be referring to. If the community has taken ownership of their homeless, I want to know what they're doing to solve the problem. I don't think it's an illegitimate question, in light of hawkeye's claim.

Quote:

Yes - the larger point is that there's nothing wrong with the sticker in the original article at all. People have chosen to take it as an attack on all homeless, but there is no evidence to support that position, or that people who agree with my position, support that position.

Well, yea, it's legal to be a jerk if that's what you want to be. Just as we can make judgments about asshole homeless people, we can also make judgments about asshole businessmen who would like to profit by just throwing stones at an already marginalized group of people in our society.

Of course the sticker will mean different things to different people -- to me, it just comes off as an unnecessary insult against the homeless, and it is uncalled for and tasteless. You also have the right to your opinion, and we obviously won't be able to agree on this issue.

1 Reply

@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

Christ almighty, I'm gonna go find some busywork to do like digging ditches and filling them up or something.

Yeah, you can kinda tell how much of my day is spent on copying large files across slow connections, based on my participation here.

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

Do you really argue that "bum" does not have a very common generalized meaning of "hobo" and "homeless" though?

I know we are arguing about where exactly the word fell on this particular page, but are you and Cyclo (he was arguing that it didn't have this meaning, at least) really saying that you are not aware of the common definition of "bum" that is inclusive of "homeless"?

Cause if so there's some edification to be had ("bum" does have the general meaning of "homeless" or "hobo" and does not just mean "lazy"), but if not, I'm willing to just concede you both as being right about whatever disputes we are having about the particular location of the word "homeless" on the page Cyclo linked to.

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

DrewDad wrote:

Yeah, you can kinda tell how much of my day is spent on copying large files across slow connections, based on my participation here.

I hear ya, that's the IT version of "it's compiling". Unfortunately a lot of my busy work is on the internet, and often on a2k itself.

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@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

Do you really argue that "bum" does not have a very common generalized meaning of "hobo" and "homeless" though?

For me, and I emphasize that this is entirely subjective based on how I've heard the word used, "bum" connotes someone who is homeless by choice, not circumstances. A "bum" is someone who is lazy, or who chooses to be non-traditional.

Robert Gentel wrote:

I know we are arguing about where exactly the word fell on this particular page, but are you and Cyclo (he was arguing that it didn't have this meaning, at least) really saying that you are not aware of the common definition of "bum" that is inclusive of "homeless"?

We're really arguing connotations here, not dictionary definitions. And there could be entirely regional differences in how the word is used.

Robert Gentel wrote:

Cause if so there's some edification to be had ("bum" does have the general meaning of "homeless" or "hobo" and does not just mean "lazy"), but if not, I'm willing to just concede you both as being right about whatever disputes we are having about the particular location of the word "homeless" on the page Cyclo linked to.

I'm saying that "bums", for me, are a particular subset of homeless people. A square is a rectangle, but not all rectangles are squares.

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@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

I will give your suggestion all the consideration it is due. However you'll have to do more than merely negatively characterize me (I already know I'm self-righteous and arrogant, did you have something of greater intellectual substance than that to add?) to be convincing. If you can't indict anything else I say and only want to call me self-righteous you probably could have saved yourself the effort, I am one self-righteous bastard. Now back to the subject.

I made no pretence of adding "intellectual substance" of any kind. I was merely suggesting that several here may have the visceral impression that you are merely posturing and finding fault with others in areas in which you cannot possibly know the truth. In short that you are making an ass of yourself.

If that is so, the person who cqalls your attention to it is not necessarily your enemy - as those who merely let you continue are not necessarily your friends.

3 Replies

@georgeob1,

georgeob1 wrote:

Robert Gentel wrote:

I will give your suggestion all the consideration it is due. However you'll have to do more than merely negatively characterize me (I already know I'm self-righteous and arrogant, did you have something of greater intellectual substance than that to add?) to be convincing. If you can't indict anything else I say and only want to call me self-righteous you probably could have saved yourself the effort, I am one self-righteous bastard. Now back to the subject.

I made no pretence of adding "intellectual substance" of any kind. I was merely suggesting that several here may have the visceral impression that you are merely posturing and finding fault with others in areas in which you cannot possibly know the truth. In short, that you are making an ass of yourself.

If that is so, the person who calls your attention to it is not necesdsarily your enemy - as those who merely let you continue are not necessarily your friends.

0 Replies

@georgeob1,

georgeob1 wrote:

Robert Gentel wrote:

I will give your suggestion all the consideration it is due. However you'll have to do more than merely negatively characterize me (I already know I'm self-righteous and arrogant, did you have something of greater intellectual substance than that to add?) to be convincing. If you can't indict anything else I say and only want to call me self-righteous you probably could have saved yourself the effort, I am one self-righteous bastard. Now back to the subject.

I made no pretence of adding "intellectual substance" of any kind. I was merely suggesting that several here may have the visceral impression that you are merely posturing and finding fault with others in areas in which you cannot possibly know the truth. In short that you are making an ass of yourself.

If that is so, the person who cqalls your attention to it is not necessarily your enemy - as those who merely let you continue are not necessarily your friends.

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So nice, he said it thrice

Cycloptichorn

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Actually I screwed uo the Edit/Quote features.

1 Reply

@georgeob1,

georgeob spends a weekend at the Bohemian Club drinking beer and pissing in the woods and the next thing you know he screws up the edit/quote features. coincidence?

1 Reply

@Pangloss,

Quote:

Obviously not the type of local community I'm referring to, nor the type that hawkeye seemed to be referring to. If the community has taken ownership of their homeless, I want to know what they're doing to solve the problem. I don't think it's an illegitimate question, in light of hawkeye's claim.

I am not making a claim, I am saying that those who promote these signs are making a claim. Perhaps they are full of ****, but those who don't know the truth should avoid handing out to the bums until they find out. There are many places on this planet where panhandlers are very aggressive, I think that we should not want this to be the America way, and should do what we can to help those who are working to avoid this result.

I personally have never given any money to those who ask for donations, except when tricked. I did once fall for a pretty girl looking for cash in a Safeway parking lot, saying that she needed cash to pay for gas to get home....after hearing the same line from three other people in the same place over the next six months I decided that I had been conned. If I want to do something for them I would work through a soup kitchen or something. Considering that I live in Washington State which has a vigorous state supported social services program for those that need help I figure that I have done my part after I have paid my taxes.

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@dyslexia,

Sadly, Dys, my clumsiness with things like that is permanent and can't be blamed on a nice weekend.

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@Mame,

Quoting myself, re Mame's saying she didn't understand my remark...
well, you know I'm cryptic on occasion, I get not understanding my remarks.

The exhortations from chairs annoy me.
Chairs often rest in front of computers, and people type from them, judging all over the place. I do that too, of course.

Mame, now, I get. She walks the walk.
Mame, whom I know and admire, well, actually like, has scrambled herself in life, has terrific verve to take on interesting tasks, with invention. We have different viewpoints on this thread, but because I know her energy for hard work and self (ah..) development, I can see thinking as she apparently does, re panhandling.

I can understand this from others too. The arguing (debate?) here is interesting.

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@georgeob1,

georgeob1 wrote:

I made no pretence of adding "intellectual substance" of any kind.

I don't dispute that, but that is the sort of thing that I find more convincing than derogation.

Quote:

In short that you are making an ass of yourself.

Says georgeob1. Repeatedly. But I care a great deal less about whether George thinks I'm an ass (and other such derogation) than I do about trivialities like intellectual substance.

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@Robert Gentel,

maybe feed the children...to the bums

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@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

Some bums can be quite annoying. I can't see starving them out, but the best solution is to find legal ways to keep them wanting to hang around certain areas where they don't piss on your door step repeatedly.

Robert Gentel wrote:

edgarblythe wrote:
Some bums can be quite annoying.

Some people can be quite annoying.

There, I fixed that for you.

Didn't see your reply before. This is a rare instance where I disagree with you. I was making the point that sometimes bums pick a spot to piss that it is not appropriate. I did not suggest getting the bums out of town, but coaxing them to piss elsewhere. Why that point needs "fixing" I don't get.

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I was a bum myself. I have made use of panhandled money. Today, I give money to panhandlers, without caring how they put it to use.

1 Reply

@edgarblythe,

there have been bums known to buy cottage cheese with donated money, how gross is that?

1 Reply

@dyslexia,

dyslexia wrote:

there have been bums known to buy cottage cheese with donated money, how gross is that?

Had I known, I would have weeded 'em out.

1 Reply

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