•  Hegar   ( @Hegar@kbin.social ) 
    16•1 month ago

    I don’t know that ‘one of the main reasons’ is fair. For profit prisons are vile cruelty-factories and have pull with lawmakers, but they hold less than 10% of incarcerated individuals. It’s a reason, sure. But a main reason?

    I think there are two obviously larger reasons:

    1. There are more homeless people and homeowners see them. If you’re a local politician, you can get very far by promising voters that they won’t have to see homeless people. Here in “oregon, tolerant oregon” (to quote jello biafra) this is the most common sentiment to hear, and is reflected in policy.

    2. Growing resource pressure leads to a rise in ‘punching down’. As climate crisis, imperial turmoil and the rich taking ever more resources fuel poverty and scarcity, the social pressure to distinguish yourself from those further down the social ladder increases. Hating the weak identifies you as strong, which grows in value as more and more insecurity plagues our society.

  •  space   ( @space@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English
    7•1 month ago

    Standing still for too long? Go to jail for loitering.

    Crossing the street? Go to jail for jaywalking?

    Existing next to a cop? Arrested for resisting arrest, straight to jail.

    Have any money on you? Money is arrested for looking suspicious.

  •  MacN'Cheezus   ( @MacNCheezus@lemmy.today ) English
    7•1 month ago

    Crime might be down, but homelessness is way up, or it at least feels that way. They’re everywhere these days, even in my sleepy suburb, loitering in parks and sleeping in public greenways, destroying the vegetation and often leaving piles of trash behind.

    No, I’m not arguing they deserve to go to jail for that, but you have to agree that it’s difficult having empathy for people who keep turning every inch of public property into an eyesore. But I don’t think the problem will ever be solved by fingerpointing, because that’s just passing the blame around, which ultimately helps no one.

    I think there needs to be a bigger discussion about what can be done to help these people regain a sense of purpose in life. It seems to me that most of them are simply severely disillusioned or even repulsed by how our current society works – go to work, pay your bills, rinse and repeat until you reach retirement age. They got tired of the rat race and the constant pressure to perform and are simply choosing to live a primitivist lifestyle instead, but without having any higher goals or ideals to strive for, it’s inevitable that they’re going to sink back into the mud.

    Human beings need to have a sense of purpose, they need to feel useful and appreciated in some way in order to keep making an effort day after day. It’s not enough to house them and feed them because without purpose, most of them will still end up turning to alcohol and drugs simply in an effort to pass the time.

          •  MacN'Cheezus   ( @MacNCheezus@lemmy.today ) English
            1•1 month ago

            That sounds like a distinction without a difference, unless you are saying that in addition to land, they should also provide infrastructure for them on top.

            Also did you city try collecting their waste?

            I don’t think so, at least the last time I passed by there it was still all there. But just so we’re clear what you’re asking, picture about an acre of medium density forest land with a good 100 or so people living in makeshift tents or huts. And there’s trash literally everywhere — some of it piled up in heaps, some strewn about in the bushes, and it smells like a landfill on a hot summer day.

            You would probably need a hazmat team to get rid of all that because there might be used needles, rotten food, or who knows what else in there, and more likely than not, someone would end up making a scene because some of their belongings ended up in the trash because they looked virtually indistinguishable from refuse.

            It simply isn’t reasonable to demand or expect that others should take the time out of their day and clean up your mess when they’re already doing you a favor by tolerating you being there in the first place. These are grown people, not infants. If there isn’t at least an indication of goodwill and demonstrated intent to collaborate (such as them perhaps getting together and organizing their own cleanup effort, for which the city could provide trash bags and a truck to pick them up), there’s no amount of free stuff you can give them that’ll ever make them self-sufficient.