Independence Day - and a few thoughts that have nothing to do with kink. Mostly.
I've just finished reading and rereading (and responding to, and getting flamed for) a piece written in the Philadelphia Inquirer about homelessness and the "problem" of the homeless congregating around the convention center that the DNC is about to use.
I don't know why (although I have a few guesses) that this issue has me so pissed, and adamant. But the comments about drug use, "fake claims" of being veterans, and blaming the homeless for their own situation -
Folks, the reality? A lot of those "fake claims" of homeless men and women being vets? They aren't fake. These are men and women who served us in uniform (and I get tetchy about this, because my family are just about ALL military and LEO) - who are on the streets because the VA is top heavy with middle managers and no longer has the resources to help the veterans they were created to serve.
Let's just say that it took a lot of breaks playing with my son to stay calm in between writings.
Look folks, I carry a badge. It means something to me. And I'm so far from a bleeding heart liberal that it can't even be measured. There are friends in this scene who know this and can happily testify to it - I'm the cranky old dinosaur who snorts at mentions of "forcing people to accept (us)!"
That said - here's my non-conservative thought for the day.
You can't blame an addict for his addiction, and expect change. You can't lock him up repeatedly, with a department of corrections that cares more (recently anyway) about hugging him and helping his hurt little feelings, and expect that he can come out to get a job and won't go back to dealing and using. You can't lock a guy with schizophrenia away in a hospital and forget about him to "solve the mental health problem". And you can't drop a few coins in a homeless vet's hat to make the homeless problem "go away".
The homeless, whether addicts, psych cases, returned and damaged veterans, or victims of the big business mentality - they are human. They have needs. And you can't just treat the problem with "give'em a one way bus ticket somewhere else" (someone actually FUCKING suggested that).
You want to stop the cycle of addiction? The key word there is interdiction, not incarceration. Stop the drugs before they get in, and stop the lifestyle that promotes easy earnings by dealing drugs. Prison is (best used as) a place you send people to get them away from society. To keep society safer - not to punish the criminal. Because, folks? That doesn't work. Punishing the criminal just makes him (or her) hate you more, and view you as less of a "real person". Which leads to more crime, because they view you as being a resource to get rich, instead of a victim they're hurting.
You want to help the mental health crisis in the US? Push for states to re-open and re-staff the state run mental hospitals. PA shut them all down, and turned those folks out into the streets with "community based treatment programs" - and since then it's been a downward spiral for these traumatized people.
You want to help with the problem of homelessness? This is Independence Day - and we in Philadelphia are having an actual (and disgustingly disdainful) discussion about the "problem" of homeless people on the streets when the "important people" of the DNC come to town.
What would help? Permanent structured housing with a vocational program that retrains skills to match the current employment landscape. Not shame, blame, and having us gear up to shove them in vans and move them to a part of the city where the "important people" don't have to look at them.
You know why Europeans originally came to this country? Because they were unwelcome in their own. They were being denied jobs, homes and safety. They had their homes taken away, their livelihoods ruined, and their families vilified - so they went looking for a new home.
That's right. Your ancestors, once you strip away the (very real) issues of religious freedom? They were homeless.
It's Independence Day. We're celebrating the birth of a nation.
And in Philadelphia - we're doing it by making plans on how to treat our citizens like a less-than-human problem, and shuffle them out of sight.
'nova
I don't know why (although I have a few guesses) that this issue has me so pissed, and adamant. But the comments about drug use, "fake claims" of being veterans, and blaming the homeless for their own situation -
Folks, the reality? A lot of those "fake claims" of homeless men and women being vets? They aren't fake. These are men and women who served us in uniform (and I get tetchy about this, because my family are just about ALL military and LEO) - who are on the streets because the VA is top heavy with middle managers and no longer has the resources to help the veterans they were created to serve.
Let's just say that it took a lot of breaks playing with my son to stay calm in between writings.
Look folks, I carry a badge. It means something to me. And I'm so far from a bleeding heart liberal that it can't even be measured. There are friends in this scene who know this and can happily testify to it - I'm the cranky old dinosaur who snorts at mentions of "forcing people to accept (us)!"
That said - here's my non-conservative thought for the day.
You can't blame an addict for his addiction, and expect change. You can't lock him up repeatedly, with a department of corrections that cares more (recently anyway) about hugging him and helping his hurt little feelings, and expect that he can come out to get a job and won't go back to dealing and using. You can't lock a guy with schizophrenia away in a hospital and forget about him to "solve the mental health problem". And you can't drop a few coins in a homeless vet's hat to make the homeless problem "go away".
The homeless, whether addicts, psych cases, returned and damaged veterans, or victims of the big business mentality - they are human. They have needs. And you can't just treat the problem with "give'em a one way bus ticket somewhere else" (someone actually FUCKING suggested that).
You want to stop the cycle of addiction? The key word there is interdiction, not incarceration. Stop the drugs before they get in, and stop the lifestyle that promotes easy earnings by dealing drugs. Prison is (best used as) a place you send people to get them away from society. To keep society safer - not to punish the criminal. Because, folks? That doesn't work. Punishing the criminal just makes him (or her) hate you more, and view you as less of a "real person". Which leads to more crime, because they view you as being a resource to get rich, instead of a victim they're hurting.
You want to help the mental health crisis in the US? Push for states to re-open and re-staff the state run mental hospitals. PA shut them all down, and turned those folks out into the streets with "community based treatment programs" - and since then it's been a downward spiral for these traumatized people.
You want to help with the problem of homelessness? This is Independence Day - and we in Philadelphia are having an actual (and disgustingly disdainful) discussion about the "problem" of homeless people on the streets when the "important people" of the DNC come to town.
What would help? Permanent structured housing with a vocational program that retrains skills to match the current employment landscape. Not shame, blame, and having us gear up to shove them in vans and move them to a part of the city where the "important people" don't have to look at them.
You know why Europeans originally came to this country? Because they were unwelcome in their own. They were being denied jobs, homes and safety. They had their homes taken away, their livelihoods ruined, and their families vilified - so they went looking for a new home.
That's right. Your ancestors, once you strip away the (very real) issues of religious freedom? They were homeless.
It's Independence Day. We're celebrating the birth of a nation.
And in Philadelphia - we're doing it by making plans on how to treat our citizens like a less-than-human problem, and shuffle them out of sight.
'nova
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