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Quick hypothetical you have a choice between taking cover from rain in a small bus stop which sadly has only this lean-on bench; or you take cover from rain in

Quick hypothetical you have a choice between taking cover from rain in a small bus stop which sadly has only this lean-on bench; or you take cover from rain in the same small bus stop expect this time there's a homeless guy sleeping on the only bench.

Mithaldu 10y ago
Good reminder to start voting in such a way that your government actually starts treating them as human beings. Where i'm from it's absolutely super easy to get a good apartment from the government, and i almost never see homeless, despite having lived in various cities with varying levels of affluence and density.
- tmptmp 10y ago
  >>Where i'm from it's absolutely super easy to get a good apartment from the government, and i almost never see homeless, despite having lived in various cities with varying levels of affluence and density. Genuinely curious. Can you provide the name of your country?
  - Mithaldu 10y ago
    Germany.
    - lorenzhs 10y ago
      More details at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartz_concept#Hartz_IV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartz_concept#Hartz_IV If you go through the system, you'll be provided housing. It's only if you actively avoid or can't deal with the system that you can end up homeless in Germany. Part of the deal (it's a contract, actually) is having to look for work. If you can't find any, you may be required to accept any kind of job to continue to receive benefits.
      - Mithaldu 10y ago
        Yep, good summary. Just one detail: > any kind of job Within limits. People have successfully sued against having to take jobs unreasonably (physical incompatibility, far away from family, etc.).
throwanem 10y ago
In that case, I suppose I'll try not to wake him up, and in general I'd rather a regular bench that's useful even to someone who happens not to be me. I don't blame people who suffer an ablation of their sense of shared human dignity in response to situations like that often decried in San Francisco. It's hard to be constantly exposed to that kind of privation and not become inured to it, in self-defense if nothing else. But I try not to become that way myself, either.
joesb 10y ago
So you would rather have the homeless sleeping in the rain with no roof to cover, as long as you can't see him?
- 746F7475 10y ago
  There are other places to cover from rain than a bus stop, but busses seldom pick up passengers from non-bus stops.
  - c22 10y ago
    And the comfort of public bus riders is somehow more valid than other segments of society?
zyx321 10y ago
Given only those two options, I prefer the world where the homeless guy has a place to sleep. I also prefer a world where the bus is half an hour to an hour late because the drivers are striking over one where the driver has no rights.
- randyrand 10y ago
  We can have it both ways. We will live in different places. I can have my world with unpleasant design, and you can have yours without.
  - zyx321 10y ago
    Chances are, we already do.
    - randyrand 10y ago
      =) Now If only people did not want global consensus on everything
- mhuffman 10y ago
  It might surprise you then that nearly every homeless guy you see "has a place to sleep", they choose (not in the "choose to be homeless sense") to sleep outside. The main reason is that homeless shelters have restrictions on violence, drug, and alcohol use, and people make a choice between comfort hand having their buzz harshed. Now you can follow this up with a lot of "but.." arguments, but the fact remains that in most places (not all) if someone is sleeping outside rather than inside they actively made that choice.

Mithaldu 10y ago

Good reminder to start voting in such a way that your government actually starts treating them as human beings. Where i'm from it's absolutely super easy to get a good apartment from the government, and i almost never see homeless, despite having lived in various cities with varying levels of affluence and density.

tmptmp 10y ago
>>Where i'm from it's absolutely super easy to get a good apartment from the government, and i almost never see homeless, despite having lived in various cities with varying levels of affluence and density. Genuinely curious. Can you provide the name of your country?
- Mithaldu 10y ago
  Germany.
  - lorenzhs 10y ago
    More details at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartz_concept#Hartz_IV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartz_concept#Hartz_IV If you go through the system, you'll be provided housing. It's only if you actively avoid or can't deal with the system that you can end up homeless in Germany. Part of the deal (it's a contract, actually) is having to look for work. If you can't find any, you may be required to accept any kind of job to continue to receive benefits.
    - Mithaldu 10y ago
      Yep, good summary. Just one detail: > any kind of job Within limits. People have successfully sued against having to take jobs unreasonably (physical incompatibility, far away from family, etc.).

throwanem 10y ago

In that case, I suppose I'll try not to wake him up, and in general I'd rather a regular bench that's useful even to someone who happens not to be me. I don't blame people who suffer an ablation of their sense of shared human dignity in response to situations like that often decried in San Francisco. It's hard to be constantly exposed to that kind of privation and not become inured to it, in self-defense if nothing else. But I try not to become that way myself, either.

joesb 10y ago

So you would rather have the homeless sleeping in the rain with no roof to cover, as long as you can't see him?

746F7475 10y ago
There are other places to cover from rain than a bus stop, but busses seldom pick up passengers from non-bus stops.
- c22 10y ago
  And the comfort of public bus riders is somehow more valid than other segments of society?

zyx321 10y ago

Given only those two options, I prefer the world where the homeless guy has a place to sleep. I also prefer a world where the bus is half an hour to an hour late because the drivers are striking over one where the driver has no rights.

randyrand 10y ago
We can have it both ways. We will live in different places. I can have my world with unpleasant design, and you can have yours without.
- zyx321 10y ago
  Chances are, we already do.
  - randyrand 10y ago
    =) Now If only people did not want global consensus on everything
mhuffman 10y ago
It might surprise you then that nearly every homeless guy you see "has a place to sleep", they choose (not in the "choose to be homeless sense") to sleep outside. The main reason is that homeless shelters have restrictions on violence, drug, and alcohol use, and people make a choice between comfort hand having their buzz harshed. Now you can follow this up with a lot of "but.." arguments, but the fact remains that in most places (not all) if someone is sleeping outside rather than inside they actively made that choice.