MU Soapbox

Ganymede

@Ghost

I don't want to make it sound trivial, but have you thought about opening up your own safe group?

Ganymede

@Auspice

u already h8 me

Ganymede

Y’all damn have experienced that just be like whaaaaat?

Ganymede

@surreality said in RL Anger:

Grow up.

You know where you are, right?

Ganymede

@insomniac7809 said in RL Anger:

Market theory has its usual issues with assuming that people are able to go elsewhere when they're homeless.

True, but I use my words precisely. When I wrote "panhandlers," I meant "panhandlers" and not "the homeless."

@Tinuviel said in RL Anger:

If others are not allowed opinions on how you spend your money, which is fair, then you don't get to have opinions about how people spend money you give them.

Thankfully, I don't subscribe to the rule that no one may have an opinion on how I spend my money, which gives me the liberty to judge the shit out of them.

Ganymede

@Derp said in RL Anger:

Despite the fact that studies and like, two seconds worth of rational thought show that giving money to people directly is a poor way to help the poor, and that many are doing it because it's easy and lucrative to harass people directly until they get paid to go away, which only breeds more of the negative behaviors that hurt the community as a whole, your outrage continues when @Darren says that he doesn't give money to them directly because it supports negative behaviors?

I concur with this.

From what I have read and can tell, this is a kind of problem. If everyone collectively did not give to the panhandlers, market theory would suggest they would move elsewhere.

I feel compelled to point out that this is not in the Hog Pit, everyone (myself included). If we're going to debate, let's keep it above the belt.

Ganymede

@insomniac7809 said in RL Anger:

...to be clear, that was sarcasm, you human excrement; you're the sort of person who makes me wish God was real just so there would be a lake of fire waiting for you.

To be fair, I think that if everyone else in the world would just die already I would have a better commute.

Ganymede

@Darren said in RL Anger:

For the record, he wouldn't have gotten a cent out of me even if he had not
had a brand new iPhone because I don't tolerate panhandlers.
Every time you give money to a beggar, you make the lives of everyone that
lives, works or otherwise frequents the area, a little bit worse by
validating their behavior.

I wonder what people would say about allowing this forum to persist.

Ganymede

@Tinuviel said in RL Anger:

I'd also like to vehemently object to the idea that strippers and prostitutes need to "clean themselves up and fly straight." Those you associated might well have done, but let's not tar entire professions with the same brush.

That was not my intent, no. They elected to do what was necessary to do what was, in their minds, "cleaning themselves up and flying straight again." I concur with you that there is nothing wrong with being in the adult industry.

Ganymede

@Derp said in RL Anger:

Totally not saying that being a professional panhandler isn't lucrative. It is. I've seen it. Why I was saying is that being a professional panhandler won't get you into a life where being a panhandler is no longer necessary.

I have to disagree.

I've known way too many folks that have been strippers or prostitutes who ended up cleaning themselves up and flying straight again. It took some time and better choices in life, but I refuse to believe that one profession or another somehow pigeon-holes you. After all, my partner did go from Sith to Jedi, so I have to believe there is some hope for me too.

Ganymede

@Derp said in RL Anger:

Being truly desperate means making some hard decisions, and being willing to confront some uncomfortable truths, and willing to sacrifice and put in the work to lift yourself out of that situation. Being a professional panhandler doesn't do it.

Why not?

Presume that someone becomes a professional panhandler. So what? It remains an occupation, albeit one that you particularly abhor for reasons. If they are good at preying on the guilt-ridden, so be it; maybe they are Catholic.

Now, let's presume that it is involuntary. So what? Life dealt you a hand that puts you in a better current spot than that other person, but there's no obligation to give anything to anyone. It's yours; hold onto it.

No one needs to give an elaborate explanation as to why they elect not to give freely to others.

That said, I have personal knowledge of professional panhandling in my city. I have seen them shuttling from one location to another, and then settling at a flophouse at the end of the day. Maybe they are using their money to fuel addictions or to feed their family; it does not matter to me.

I don't need to give an elaborate explanation as to why I elect to give or not give.