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"Felsenmeer" wrote in message ...
And what would you like done with the homeless? Have them scooped up and dispatched to some burnt out industrial district so they can't make the yuppies nervous when they go for strolls in the park? Two words: HOMELESS SHELTER OK so we lock them away in 'shelters' from which they are not free to leave. That's f***ing brilliant. I have yet to see a homeless shelter in which the homeless are "locked away" and are "not free to leave." Do these exist in your country? They don't in mine. My point was the OPs apparent hypocrisy in being outraged about kayaking being banned as 'potentially dangerous' and in the same breath condemning the homeless as 'potentially threatening'. The fact is, a park is a much nicer place to be than a homeless shelter. Have you ever seen the inside of one? My reading of his arguments (which really needn't have involved the homeless at all, as they were irrelevant to his kayaking problem) was a sort of juvenille, "If I can't play here then why should they?" The public in general *does* feel uncomfortable with homeless people, warranted or not. A park may be a much nicer place than a shelter to a homeless person, but a park is *not* a nicer place for the public when it becomes a collecting point for the homeless. You obviously have some sort of thing for the homeless, and that's good. But I think if you're going to intellectually honest, you're going to have to realize that the public at large in general does not approve of having their parks turned into impromptu homeless shelters. So... you've missed the point. People typically feel somewhat threatened by the homeless, yet they have free rein of the place. People do *not* typically feel threatened by sea kayakers, yet they're prohibited. This makes no sense. It's not an issue of "play." It's easy to see how the most common complaints one might have about the homeless (IE they're dirt poor, are probably crazy and are homeless because they can't manage a real lifestyle, they're an inconvenience and a hazard to the rest of us) could easily be applied to a cyclist by a motorist. Huh? That's silly hyperbole. Unless, of course, you truly believe that bicyclists are dirt poor, crazy, and can't manage a real lifestyle. And if we can say nothing else for homelessness, we can be sure it has less environmental impact than owning a home, even a home with no SUVs. What does this have to do with the whole thing? Within the context of this thread, where does the environmental impact of homelessness come into play? Well, you said it all. What else can I say... But let me add a couple of points: 1-The people making these regulations--privileged public officers--don't ever go on a kayak. They go on motorboats which are much higher up in the social ladder. 2-They don't go to the park, since they are probably associated to some private club or are out there in their motorboat. If they did, they would take care of the homeless problem. Of course, these are not accepted in their clubs... |
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