Richie Waves

Yea, that I would consider Disruptive..

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Oooh, Betty! the cat did a shit in the hat

Redhead

Ok, in my opinion using the word "useless" to describe people who are having troubles is disgraceful.

Many of those "useless" people are simply mentally ill with no family/friends to look after them, so they end up out on the streets unable to take care of themselves.

Yes, there are some lazy people in the word. However, most homeless people don't fall into that category and it's foolish to describe them as such.

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scrim Pinion

Down's Syndrome isn't a mental illness. Thinking that the dog that suggests you should set fires makes a lot of sense or that everyone around you wants to flay off your skin is a mentall illness.


But hey, nice unrelated anecdote.

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Merovigan

Right, because giving money to this guy is a GREAT idea

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Asher Bertrand

You know, being a street musician in SL can actually get you some good money in some RP areas

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Merovigan

Oh, and would you mind posting source for this?

Here's mine to say that you're wrong:
More Homeless Mentally Ill Than Expected According To UCSD Study: Interventions Urged

Siyu Suen

I think it's foolish and very idealistic to think that the mentally ill people are the majority. Just hearing my man talk about how many people he knew who were unemployed and on Welfare when he was growing up, and having kids especially so they could get more money from the "guvmint" jaded me a little. If I see a good person who genuinely needs my help, I'll help them. But that's very, very rarely a panhandler. Maybe I'm this harsh because I don't have enough money to give indiscriminately, but yes, I'll make my own judgments and to me most beggars are just useless.

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"Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever" -Baron Munchausen

I'm attempting to bring about the end of the world to usher in a new era of mask wielding overlords. This is how!

scrim Pinion

I don't care who you give money to. I resent your suggestion that I have made a mistake in judgment by taking pity on the mentally ill, however.


Do whatever you like. I disagree with the implication that everyone who asks me for money can or should keep a job, and my giving them money when they ask is counter-productive.


Ay no point did I judge you or tell you that my line of thinking is any more correct than yours. Naturally, that's what I believe, otherwise I wouldn't behave as I do. That doesn't mean I give a flying fuck in a rolling doughnut that you feel otherwise.

Vengence Opus

i think McCain forgot he had a book report due, and wants the teacher to give him extra time.

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“If you're losing your soul and you know it, then you've still got a soul left to lose.” ~ Charles Bukowski

Isablan Neva

My brother has a variety of issues similar to Down's and he works, drives, and owns his own condo.

We're not talking about the same thing here at all. Most of the homeless are mentally ill - they are unable to hold down any kind of job. They are the forgotten people that no one wants to deal with.

CrossingStyx

You're investing in society. What better idea is there?

Merovigan

Here's some links on dealing with your resentment issues:
Resentment

Merovigan

The bolded is not true.

Merovigan

"Society" is not the people who sit outside all day, watching the grass grow.

Asher Bertrand

OK, this is an odd exchange.

First, mental retardation is a DSM-classified mental illness. Not that this really matters one way or another, but we talked about it in a class I had last weekend so I'm putting my hard paid-for education to use

However...

In any place I can remember living, there have always been job resources targeted at the "developmentally disabled," which can include people with Downs and other conditions. Organizations specialize in training these people for the workplace and placing them in jobs they can handle.

I can't say I've seen the same sort of opportunities out there for someone with, say, unmedicated schizophrenia. Perhaps because this is very much considered a "true" mental illness by most people, and everyone knows you just shun the crazies or something.

Anyway.

Both are mental conditions, but the way society treats people with these conditions is quite different. That was my point.

Added: Whoa, I totally messed up the quoted discussion and had Scrim saying things Mero said. Sorry 'bout that. Fixed now.

scrim Pinion

roger, I'll get right on that as soon as this changes:

Vengence Opus

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publ...al_Illness.pdf

Merovigan

Apparently, some people think "the majority" is a meager 16%.

K!

Well, that's just ill-informed opinion there, huh?

CrossingStyx

Actually, they are part of society, even if they don't contribute. And there are plenty of people with homes who just "sit outside all day, watching the grass grow." Are they not part of society either?

Merovigan

Not part of "my" society, they aren't. Invisible entities I can walk past without noticing or caring about!

People with homes usually earned them. What they do after they've paid for them is their business - they earned the right to not contribute much. They STILL contribute (taxes, home upkeep, etc.)

scrim Pinion

spoken like someone who's never been a landlord in a low-income neighborhood. I can't be sure, but my guess is most of the houses on MY block are occupied by people who pay for rent with Section 8 . Considering my parents once owned 6 of the houses on said block, and the rentor applicant pool collected by them, I'd lay decent odds on that assertion.

Isablan Neva

I challenge you to spend this Thanksgiving serving dinner in your local soup kitchen. Keep a mental tally of how many people come through your line that are just regular folks down on their luck and how many are, for all practical purposes, unemployable because they are either mentally ill or lack a "social barometer" that tells them how to behave in society.

Arilynn

Like anything, I think part of it is how one defines the terms and what words are used. For people who are chronically homeless, the rate of mental illness is very high:

Bolding is mine.

Lo Jacobs

I just wanted to note that my dad, whose older brother has had serious schizophrenia since his early twenties (he is now approaching seventy), has been involved in the mental illness community both as a volunteer and as a journalist who has spread awareness for years.

One of his favorite projects is volunteering at a facility for the mentally ill (The Village), which includes traipsing around looking for mentally ill homeless people to bring back and help.

There are a lot of them.

Now, I don't know about the panhandlers, but I would say that a great deal of the homeless are suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness (I am less sure about the rate of junkies or alcoholics).

Also, these things can overlap.

Undiagnosed mental illnesses, people. Comes in all shapes and sizes.

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CrossingStyx

Marrying a rice white guy is not a contribution. I mean, would you say the person we've been talking about from yesterday contributes?