re: Saw 2 homeless out and about on the way to work this morning

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why? why wouldn't you pity these people?

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blowing what money they can get, or wasting time instead of working to peddle for drugs is contributing to their homelessness. I have no sympathy for people in shitty situations because they do shitty stupid things. Be accountable for yourself. You play stupid games; you win stupid prizes.

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Many are mentally ill and have substance abuse problems, this leads to behavior that families and shelters wont tolerate and thus are homeless.
I feel like a parent explaining something simple to a child.

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I don't like how you explain things, Dad. I'm running away to become famous in Hollywood

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being homeless is not a choice

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It was a choice for someone. The nation grappled with public service of the mentally ill - when you think about what they didn't have, just in the 1940s and early 1950s (pre-Thorazine) - they just warehoused the mentally ill under some of the most horrific conditions imaginable. Once "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was published in the early 1960s, much as "The Jungle" had influenced food regulation in the U.S. and "Silent Spring" had been a catalyst for the environmental movement, the de-institutional movement really took off. With the government (a bipartisan effort that is often scapegoated onto Ronald Wilson Reagan, both as governor of California and President in the early 1980s) all too eager to save money on health care, exclusive mental health funding was cut back, sharply, and it was moved more and more into the mainstream.

On the other hand, rapid advances in mental health medication over the past 50 years has resulted in a drastic reduction in both violent crime and people who are gravely disabled by mental illness.

The progression went like this: They were de-institutionalized from mental hospitals and ended up in jail/prison or in droves in homeless "communities". Eventually, most of them found effective treatment regimens over time. The very few (relatively speaking) that are effectively untreatable are spread out between the criminal justice system, the few remaining mental hospitals, private care or are homeless.

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A large enough majority

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to have a majority you have to have.......a majority

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making rash generalizations

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As someone said earlier, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell whether which type of homeless person you are conversing with.

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so they should be institutionalized. Easy fix.

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There are programs that dont require institutionalization. Depending on how severe the illness is many people can get government support and live on their own. Here is an example of one program:
LINK

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Or you don't understand how the human brain works.

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do you think they just laid down where they were and took that weather we had last night?
Do you?

frick no dude,they used their brains to build a shelter somewhere.Used their brains to gather clothing,covers,materials to survive.

Funny how you think the brain possesses enough capability to do all these things yet does not possess enough to get them the help they need.

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No, but it may take some deciphering beyond an average intellect.

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that's where you need to check out then.

My point is that the majority aren't really trying to get out of poverty. They are trying to be pulled by someone else.

Look at the minimum wage issue. People complain that it isn't high enough when when they aren't trying to further their education or skills. People are settling with what they got and waiting for handouts.

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do you think they just laid down where they were and took that weather we had last night?
Do you?

frick no dude,they used their brains to build a shelter somewhere.Used their brains to gather clothing,covers,materials to survive.

Funny how you think the brain possesses enough capability to do all these things yet does not possess enough to get them the help they need.

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That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that their genetic make-up, environment in which they were raised, and the subsequent neural organization and operation is such that they make the decisions they do. There isn't much room for will. I think homelessness is clearly an issue and we should think about the factors that lead people to homelessness (such as mental health issues, socio-economic factors, etc.) more than personal responsibility. Focus on the cause, not the effect.

Good post but you'll never get the Fox News crowd to agree to any of that.