Occupy the Homeless

There has been a lot of talk about how "Occupy" has brought out the "bad elements" in the cities being occupied, namely, the homeless and drug pushers/addicts. The thing is, the Occupy movement didn't CREATE these homeless people, the movement just gave them more access to shelter and food than they had before. What created these homeless people in many instances is what Occupiers are rallying against, a system that is built to keep the rich, rich, and the poor, poor. 

Homelessness is a separate yet related issue. These homeless people have always been homeless. If anything, there should be more work done to protect and shelter the homeless, and services to get them back on their feet,  now that it is more apparent to the mainstream how many homeless people there really are. I know in Philly the homeless had been often relegated to trash diving and sleeping in the darkest of corners in underground tunels of the subway lines. Now they can reside on the surface where there is better food, shelter, and even heat. Who can blame them?

What's unfortunate in this whole thing is the way many media outlets have twisted the homeless's presence into constant bylines about how Occupy protesters are all homeless, jobless, vagrants, which isn't true. 

4 comments

  1. Very thought provoking. Great blog topic! :-)

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  2. @Driven to Succeed - THANKS! :-)

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  3. Wow, you make more sense than most mainstream news stories on this subject, especially your point that it's the same economic system the Occupiers are protesting that created the homeless population, which is growing. In fact, the tents in Occupy L.A. look eerily like the tents a few blocks away in L.A. Skid Row, as if total cities could soon be covered with tents.

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  4. @Kay - thanks so much. Yes, it seems the media doesn't want to really examine what's happening with an unbiased eye.

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