90-year old man arrested for feeding the homeless.

5545Trey

5545Trey

Underground Deviant



http://www.mrctv.org/blog/outrage-90-...

http://www.fortlauderdale.gov/commiss...

When I read or hear about stories that makes me facepalm to human stupidity, I think to myself: "This cannot get any worse. It just... cannot." When I hear about these stories, I utterly lose faith in people. Read these links and watch this video. Also, spread the word. Makes this story world-wide. By the way, ignore my first thread that was about this story.
 
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We had here in Germany for some time a serious issue with people that pretended to be poor, or sending children around claiming to collect money for non-profit organisations helping the poor people. It turned out that many of those children and people have been collecting money not because they have been poor but because they scammed people, exploiting the situation.

Since then people have become a lot more reserved about the subject. Hell, even I have been scammed once by someone who claimed to collect money for the red cross, he looked professional, he didn't ask for a lot of money, and suddenly I was in some kind of contract. Thankfully I found a way to get out out of it, because I was 17 at that time. Since then I am extremely cautious when someone asks me for my money.

I think you cannot always just blame people. They do care. Like shown above. But it's really a bit more complicated than just that. I mean even if you donate money, how many times do you hear that organisation A or B isn't even really using the money to help the poor or homeless or people in the third world, even big organisations like the WWF are facing corruption it seems. In such a situation you are simply unsure.

A lot more people would help and donate money I think if they knew that the money was really helping and not disappearing somewhere in pockets where it doesn't belong. I am not saying this is the case for every organisation, but I think people have become simply a lot more insecure and always expect to be scammed, even if this is only true for let's say 10% of the cases out there, but it's like everyone knows someone who got scammed at some point. And that makes it simply very difficult I guess.

"We hope he feeds. He has a very valuable role in the community,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler. "All we're saying is he can feed the next block over. He can feed at the church. We want them to be in safe secure settings. We wanted them to be in a sanitary matter. We them to have facilities available before and after."
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It seems the reason why he was arrested was because he offered meals in a location where it was not allowed, because of no sanitary equipment. I am not saying this has to be true or the right way to deal with the situation. But there really has to be a bit more behind this then just "he feeds the homeless, lets lock him away", or not?
 
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I dropped a 20 coin into a cup the other day. Anything less, I find to be condescending. Once I've given, I feel awkward hanging around (it's a bus-stop) I'm always worried they'll come right back to me, having forgotten me, asking for more. It happened before, but I reminded him "hello, 2 minutes ago?" "OH sorry :0"
I've given cigs on 2 occations, when they were actually bothersome, and I didn't have spare change. These are foreigners that have a very bad reputation here, for being part of crime rings. People are too naive tho. I know criminal people, and none of them sit in the snow with a cup all day. Whatever "crime ring" these people are part of, they are nowhere near anywhere privileged in this organization, most likely they are slaves of debt.

As for native beggars, they hardly exist, because of welfare. One time a junkie asked me for 5 krones, I gave him 15. He saw I had a paper bill of 500, and really really really wanted me to give it to him, promising to pay me back "later". I told him no, no, no and no. He got pissy. I got pissy and left. He then shouted a thanks after me, for the 15 krones.

Poverty can be bothersome. But it's worse to be poor, than to be temporarily bothered by poor people.
 
zegh8578 said:
Poverty can be bothersome. But it's worse to be poor, than to be temporarily bothered by poor people.
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Once upon a time, when I was on my way home from the city, a woman not much older than myself walked up to me quite purposefully (as if she already had me marked fifty metres away) and asked for some spare change. After rolling my eyes internally (it looked to me like she wanted money to buy a pack of cigarettes), I gave her some coins before walking away, to which she gave me her blessings. Ten seconds down the street, I could hear her swearing quite badly at someone else, presumably not for being as grudgingly generous as I was.

In retrospect, I'm glad I gave her the money, not because of the spirit of charity, but because I didn't end up getting called a see you next Tuesday on a busy street. In contrast, I do what I can for charities like the Salvation Army and St. Vinnie's, because at least you know the money you donate to them actually goes to a better use than a cheap pack of fags.
 
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In Norway, thanks to a well robust welfare system, charities are not a big part of our culture.
Well, it is. Taxation IS part of our culture, and so far most Norwegians will still defend being taxed heavily, because we know that this is the charity we pay, this is what will make sure we "officially" have no homeless people, and such.
Homes are practically forced upon most poor here, with the exception of the "import beggars", whom there is little control over. This automatic safeguarding of the poor (creating the illusion that Norway has no poverty) is funded by a taxation Americans would need to sit down after seeing, but that people here consider part of "the Norwegian spirit"

Obviously, this is on its way out, little by little. Sadly.
(Income tax rates here are typically 30%)
 
SnapSlav said:
zegh8578 said:
a taxation Americans would need to sit down after seeing
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Unless the average annual taxes reach between 60-80% of all salaries and income, I can't see why Americans would need to "sit down".
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From what I understand, Americans pay around 10% of their income (private homes, not businesses). Upping it to 30% would seem rather unpopular, seeing how unpopular the idea of tax seems over there.
I've personally surprised Americans, who could not imagine paying 30% of their income to tax.
 
the issue is that when ever you want to increase taxes to eventually help poor people, someone will say that its pure communism.

Which it is, of course. Look at Sweden, Norway, Germany.
 
zegh8578 said:
SnapSlav said:
zegh8578 said:
a taxation Americans would need to sit down after seeing
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Unless the average annual taxes reach between 60-80% of all salaries and income, I can't see why Americans would need to "sit down".
Click to expand...

From what I understand, Americans pay around 10% of their income (private homes, not businesses). Upping it to 30% would seem rather unpopular, seeing how unpopular the idea of tax seems over there.
I've personally surprised Americans, who could not imagine paying 30% of their income to tax.
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Noooooooooo..... the bare minimum even the lowest worker (if you make minimum wage) pays is approximately 15-20% income tax. And that's just ONE type of tax. State and local taxes. Capital Gains taxes. Estate taxes. There's thousands of different kinds of taxes that all stack on top of one another in the U.S. The Tax Code is deliberately designed to be so convoluted and confusing so that the average citizen won't try to fight back when the IRS comes knocking, and to mask just how much the average citizen pays in taxes. But all told, with all taxes put together, the average American pays between 40-60% of their total salaries and income to taxes.

EDIT: But I suppose you're right. BECAUSE the average American isn't aware of how much they pay in taxes, they likely think they're closer to 10%, so they'd be surprised if they heard of paying a number as humble as 30%. But those of us who are aware of just how far taxes reach won't so much as raise an eyebrow to a number below 60%. XD
 
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