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"The 30 years of systematic disenfranchisement of poor people never really bothered me," Ms. Cooper said, "But as soon as those disgusting people made me person

"The 30 years of systematic disenfranchisement of poor people never really bothered me," Ms. Cooper said, "But as soon as those disgusting people made me personally uncomfortable, I knew we had to do something." Wow. Golf clap for bravery there. Great work.

chris_wot 10y ago
The problem with a systematic dismantling of welfare protection and the denial of things like basic health care is that people who hit rock bottom have got to go somewhere. And if you create a culture where things like a minimum wage are seen as bad for business, you'll get people who don't make enough to live a normal, basic life. They'll be one disaster removed from losing the lot and the landlord turfing them into the streets. When that happens, you can move them on, but they'll eventually grow to such numbers there's nowhere to move them to. One day, you might hit a personal crisis. Or your kids might hit that personal crisis. Or your whole family might find themselves living in a car. Then you will be the one being moved on. And you will curse those who dismantled the welfare systems. You may well be cursing yourself.
- burfog 10y ago
  Yes, they do have to go somewhere. There is a solution for this in the movie Soylent Green.
  - chris_wot 10y ago
    You really do not want to give the Immigration Department any ideas like this... :-) In all seriousness, refugees are dying on Manus Island and Nauru already, either from suicide, lack of medical care or from violence. In my view, it's only marginally more safe in off-shore detention than it is on the very boats the facilities are meant to be stopping.
geebee 10y ago
I was unable to find that quote… are you referring to a different article? If so, would you source it?
- beatpanda 10y ago
  The quote isn't in the article. It's a joke, paraphrasing the subtext of what the Chronicle's editor is actually saying. There are media outlets in San Francisco (The Street Sheet, Poor Magazine, and others) that dedicate most of their coverage to poor and homeless people, and to proposed solutions for poverty in San Francisco. This "coordinated media wave" is insulting to the hard work those publications put in, and to people who have been working on homelessness in San Francisco since it first reached crisis proportions in the mid-80s, and especially after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The first quote in the article is about how the editor of the Chronicle wasn't bothered at all by this massive humanitarian crisis until it made her personally uncomfortable. And that, to me, displays a disgusting lack of empathy for someone whose job is supposed to be "comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable".

chris_wot 10y ago

The problem with a systematic dismantling of welfare protection and the denial of things like basic health care is that people who hit rock bottom have got to go somewhere. And if you create a culture where things like a minimum wage are seen as bad for business, you'll get people who don't make enough to live a normal, basic life. They'll be one disaster removed from losing the lot and the landlord turfing them into the streets. When that happens, you can move them on, but they'll eventually grow to such numbers there's nowhere to move them to. One day, you might hit a personal crisis. Or your kids might hit that personal crisis. Or your whole family might find themselves living in a car. Then you will be the one being moved on. And you will curse those who dismantled the welfare systems. You may well be cursing yourself.

burfog 10y ago
Yes, they do have to go somewhere. There is a solution for this in the movie Soylent Green.
- chris_wot 10y ago
  You really do not want to give the Immigration Department any ideas like this... :-) In all seriousness, refugees are dying on Manus Island and Nauru already, either from suicide, lack of medical care or from violence. In my view, it's only marginally more safe in off-shore detention than it is on the very boats the facilities are meant to be stopping.

geebee 10y ago

I was unable to find that quote… are you referring to a different article? If so, would you source it?

beatpanda 10y ago
The quote isn't in the article. It's a joke, paraphrasing the subtext of what the Chronicle's editor is actually saying. There are media outlets in San Francisco (The Street Sheet, Poor Magazine, and others) that dedicate most of their coverage to poor and homeless people, and to proposed solutions for poverty in San Francisco. This "coordinated media wave" is insulting to the hard work those publications put in, and to people who have been working on homelessness in San Francisco since it first reached crisis proportions in the mid-80s, and especially after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The first quote in the article is about how the editor of the Chronicle wasn't bothered at all by this massive humanitarian crisis until it made her personally uncomfortable. And that, to me, displays a disgusting lack of empathy for someone whose job is supposed to be "comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable".