3 ms·

What is the significance of the person being homeless?

• ducktoller 9y ago
  It's a descriptor, the same way "man" or "woman" is a descriptor. Descriptors help you picture a situation more clearly.
  • salvar 9y ago
    Fair enough. It felt like a wholly unnecessary descriptor to me, intended to lessen the value of that person's life.
  • jmalicki 9y ago
    Nothing about whether or not the person involved happened to have a permanent place of residence is a relevant descriptor to the situation at hand.
    • brianwawok 9y ago
      Great, and neither does their hair color, their # of kids, their name, their birthplace, or any of the other 100 details we normally include. Would you prefer all news articles were: > Someone was walking and a car hit and killed them. And that is the end of the story?
• YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago
  It's a masterstroke of reporting ingenuity. If you're the kind of person who thinks homeless people are useless garbage that deserves to be run over, you'll think the article is pointing this out to inform you that what happened was not a big deal and the person walking out in front of the car was at fault. If you're the kind of person who considers homelesness an affront to the dignity of human societies that tolerate it, you'll think that the article is pointing out the tragic angle of a woman already suffering from exclusion and poverty being run over by the malfunction of an extremely expensive piece of equipment that should be recalled at once. If you're somewhere in between, you'll still gravitate towards one of the extremes. In any case, mentioning that Elen Herzberg was homeless is only there as an appeal to emotion. By the way- Elen Herzberg's friends and family have said she was not homeless. I recall, I think, a stepdaughter, saying that she had "issues with homelessness" but had recently turned her life around and was starting a new job.