Thursday, March 06, 2008
This is the kind of "journalism" that bugs the shit out of me:
Homeless By The Bay
This is the typical yuppie-piece-of-shit-attitude that makes San Francisco a poorer place to live. 'I have my nice job and house and I hate being inconvenienced by people who aren't as fortunate as I am. Can't the police just drag them away somewhere and beat the shit out of them so they don't come back?'
Now I don't like aggressive pan-handlers anymore than I like the selfish yuppies, but when I see someone less fortunate than I, I'm reminded of something my mother used to say:
"There but for the grace of god go I."
The kind of people like the author of the above-referenced article don't think about combat vets who come home with terrible emotional problems faced with a government and a populace that doesn't care about them. They also fail to recognize that drug and alcohol addiction is a disease, (according to the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association.) Nor that drug addiction is often the symptom of emotional illness that's going untreated, (known as self-medicating.)
Maybe a little more compassion and caring instead of a bad attitude might encourage these fortunate souls to try and do something to improve the situation overall, but like those poor souls forced to live on our mean streets, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
Homeless By The Bay
This is the typical yuppie-piece-of-shit-attitude that makes San Francisco a poorer place to live. 'I have my nice job and house and I hate being inconvenienced by people who aren't as fortunate as I am. Can't the police just drag them away somewhere and beat the shit out of them so they don't come back?'
Now I don't like aggressive pan-handlers anymore than I like the selfish yuppies, but when I see someone less fortunate than I, I'm reminded of something my mother used to say:
"There but for the grace of god go I."
The kind of people like the author of the above-referenced article don't think about combat vets who come home with terrible emotional problems faced with a government and a populace that doesn't care about them. They also fail to recognize that drug and alcohol addiction is a disease, (according to the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association.) Nor that drug addiction is often the symptom of emotional illness that's going untreated, (known as self-medicating.)
Maybe a little more compassion and caring instead of a bad attitude might encourage these fortunate souls to try and do something to improve the situation overall, but like those poor souls forced to live on our mean streets, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
# posted by Phillip T. Alden @ 10:07 AM 
