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I generally try to not be sarcastic. Thank you for making an effort to answer in good faith. The point I was trying to make is that the subject of affordable h

I generally try to not be sarcastic. Thank you for making an effort to answer in good faith. The point I was trying to make is that the subject of affordable housing seems to have fallen into the same pattern that discrimination against women or people of color has fallen into. There is always, without fail, some reason (aka excuse) as to why this specific woman or this specific person of color does not deserve the promotion or should not be listened to, etc. It isn't their gender or skin color, it is that they aren't saying it right, being too emotional, etc ad nauseum -- standards that white males don't get held to. Affordable housing seems to be a topic where there is always some excuse as to why it is relevant this time, why it isn't a valid argument in this case and so on. I do know something about these topics. I don't agree with you that homelessness is mostly about mental health issues and addiction. It is far more complicated than that. That piece of it gets far too much press. It becomes just another excuse to dismiss the fact that many people on the street have some income, just not enough to afford a middle class lifestyle, and affordable housing is in incredibly short supply in this country. When you dismiss homeless people as merely insane addicts who cannot function in society any way, it is a convenient way to wash all of society clean of the responsibility of providing adequate amounts of affordable housing because we don't really know how to reliably cure mental health issues or addiction. So, it absolves the world of really doing anything about the problem because, hey, it isn't really fixable, so you can't reasonably expect "me"/the world to really try and you can't reasonably hold us responsible. I fear I am wasting my breathe, so to speak. So, in the interest of not pointlessly beating a dead horse, I plan to stop here. Thanks for engaging me.

mancerayder 10y ago
I like the idea that you realize you're potentially beating a dead horse. It must really feel this way when (you may not realize) your entire comment is full of assumptions about 'people who hold views like this' and straw man arguments as a result. I never dismissed homeless people as insane addicts who can't function in society, and I didn't imply they couldn't be helped (I implied that funding was being cut to institutions that could help, and that's a fact in New York that started under previous mayors). That's what politics is often reduced to, straw men, and the idea that the argument-maker has 'heard it all before' and therefore is tired of making an effort to make an argument that has facts in it. The truth is, if you think you've heard it all before, that's probably a sign you need to listen more carefully. In that sense you would have been wasting your breath.
- DorintheFlora 10y ago
  Yet, you continue to simply dismiss me, a point that I covered. I must not be listening carefully enough. It couldn't possibly be that I have a point and it simply has no hope of getting through to you, no matter what I do.

mancerayder 10y ago

I like the idea that you realize you're potentially beating a dead horse. It must really feel this way when (you may not realize) your entire comment is full of assumptions about 'people who hold views like this' and straw man arguments as a result. I never dismissed homeless people as insane addicts who can't function in society, and I didn't imply they couldn't be helped (I implied that funding was being cut to institutions that could help, and that's a fact in New York that started under previous mayors). That's what politics is often reduced to, straw men, and the idea that the argument-maker has 'heard it all before' and therefore is tired of making an effort to make an argument that has facts in it. The truth is, if you think you've heard it all before, that's probably a sign you need to listen more carefully. In that sense you would have been wasting your breath.

DorintheFlora 10y ago
Yet, you continue to simply dismiss me, a point that I covered. I must not be listening carefully enough. It couldn't possibly be that I have a point and it simply has no hope of getting through to you, no matter what I do.