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Originally posted by chinamon i think we should have a dedicated area in the city where all the homeless are confined and we can urinate on them.

Hhahahah I laughed like hell

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Originally posted by MarkT - quoting Nietzsche or natural selection is a bit harsh...maybe I'm naive, but I'd like to think our society is a bit more compassionate than a cold, elitist existentialist or one that subscribes to a survival-of-the-fittest mentality.

That's the problem.... people like to believe as you do but they are wrong. While Nietzsche may sound cold and uncarring he professes his position out of love. His contention is that by pitying people and helping them we really just allow them to continue to live in their sub-standard manner. He argues that if we were trully compasionate we would force them to face the worst of their situation. Once faced with the worst they will either rise to overcome it or they will perish before it. Either way they are better off then staying as they were...... kind of like putting a starving man in a room with a bear, either he'll beat the bear and no longer be starving or the bear with kill him.... both outcomes are better then dying of starvation.

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Originally posted by RickyM you're just a shit version of Moral Hazard. At least he knows what he's talking about.

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Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN lol, i love it when moral feels the need to lay the smack down

LOL I just reread my post and I realized I wrote, "normal friends" for my non-TA friends!!! LOLLLLL!!!!! That's right, you guys are all ABNORMAL Sorry about that, I meant the friends I hang out with on a daily basis; the non-TA ones (but I'm beginning to hang out with my TA friends a bit more regularly now! )

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Originally posted by Moral Hazard if don't give them money they will die quicker...Why let them continue to suffer when we can reduce their suffering by simply letting them die.

I'm not sure that a) they would die any quicker without money handed out on the street because there will always be places for them to go to survive: United Way, garbage dumps, etc. and b) whether they are actually all suffering (except for when they freeze their balls in the winter)...like I said, some may actually enjoy what they do (even you recognized that some might have RATIONALLY chosen this path of life). Even then, giving or taking loonie won't make any difference. What WILL make a difference is if registered charities stop taking care of poor people (not just homeless). Now THAT is something totally different, and if you're against that, then we've got some fightin' words to exchange

Oh, and of course you laughed like hell, Vertigo, you sadistic SOB

^^^^ actually Fahad, I was refering to all charity as exacerbating the problem, not just those giving change.

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Originally posted by RickyM you're just a shit version of Moral Hazard. At least he knows what he's talking about.

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Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN lol, i love it when moral feels the need to lay the smack down

Dude, you're living in the wrong hemisphere, then!

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Originally posted by fayraree Dude, you're living in the wrong hemisphere, then!

No, I'm just ahead of my time. We're all still clinging to this outdated Christian morality here.... we haven't figured out that a) it doesn't work, and b) it actually exacerbates many of the problems we seek to solve by it. Once we realize that necessity trully is the best motivator and not all life is worth saving we'll be much better off.

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Originally posted by RickyM you're just a shit version of Moral Hazard. At least he knows what he's talking about.

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Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN lol, i love it when moral feels the need to lay the smack down

I'm sure Charles Manson told his cult that he was ahead of his time, too!

Seriously, though, you benefit from the same Christian-based system that you criticize. The free-market system (yes I know it's not pure but you know what I mean), the media (even though it might be controlled--you have Internet), technology, tastes, personal style...this is all thanks to our economy and stable political system. I know you want to change a part of it (the charitable part) but that is a HUGE part of it!!! I don't think it's possible; the human nature of sympathy is far too embedded into our lives, cultures, GOVERNMENT (like it SHOULD be).

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Originally posted by arek Do you want to do something about the homeless people you see? Do you get tired of being asked for money every time you pass a homeless person? Do you get tired of being asked for change on your way to dinner at your favourite restaurant? Or on your way home?

yeah im sick of it too. lets kick their fuckin assess. TOGETHER PPL WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.


GET A JOB BUMS!

^^^^Uh, I just changed my mind.

Nevermind, Moral!

i was thinking an awesome solution was to make a game show.....sorta like running man with arnold schwartzneger. but itll be a maze and each wrong cornber will be filled with things like alligator pits and fuckin cool stuff like that. and if they make it to the end of the maze they get a million dollars worth of crack which they can cut with baking soda and sell on the streets and make double. itll all be televised

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Originally posted by fayraree Seriously, though, you benefit from the same Christian-based system that you criticize. The free-market system (yes I know it's not pure but you know what I mean), the media (even though it might be controlled--you have Internet), technology, tastes, personal style...this is all thanks to our economy and stable political system. I know you want to change a part of it (the charitable part) but that is a HUGE part of it!!! I don't think it's possible; the human nature of sympathy is far too embedded into our lives, cultures, GOVERNMENT (like it SHOULD be).

You cannot equate the free-market system to being part and parcel with christian based morality or any other construct of Christianity. The system of trade and barter existed long before Christ.... hell it existed before Homo Sapien Sapiens..... IT'S OLDER THEN WE ARE! Being as everything else you mentioned is an off shoot of the economy I don't think the rest of your post needs to be addressed.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think all charity is bad. I'm a fascist, which is one of the most social political/economic ideologies. The problem I have particularly with homelessness (but also with other things such as sub-saharan starvation and excessive care for the terminally ill) is that we must learn to recognize that if the cost exceeds the benefit then we as a people are hurt, not helped, by it. With regard to helping the homeless..... it requires a lot of resources and gerneally does not yeild results that would outweigh those resources or even a demonstrably better quality of life for those we mean to help. Since this is the case our efforts hurt rather then help..... no amount of loonies or camping at city hall is going to change that.

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Originally posted by RickyM you're just a shit version of Moral Hazard. At least he knows what he's talking about.

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Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN lol, i love it when moral feels the need to lay the smack down