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Giving money to the homeless

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The Wrath

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There are a lot of bums here in Lexington, I presume because of a local Hope Center. Many of these are the typical lot who have given up on life or become addicted to substances. They hang around UK campus a lot and panhandle the students. One even tried to make me pity him over refusing him a dollar so he could eat, and at the time, I had only two dollars to my name and had just gotten off work from a warehouse job where I worked myself to the bone and was starving to exhaustion. I came down on him with a righteous fury. My friend who accompanied me was afraid I would end up mauling him.

I've only given change to a few bums in my life. One was a guy who played saxophone outside a local patio bar. In Pittsburgh there was one fellow who gave us directions around town. In my view, these men had jobs, and I paid them for the enjoyment or service they provided.

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I've only given change to a few bums in my life. One was a guy who played saxophone outside a local patio bar. In Pittsburgh there was one fellow who gave us directions around town. In my view, these men had jobs, and I paid them for the enjoyment or service they provided.

I don't think that allf these types are necessarily bums. I think some of them are just people who like to play music on the street. They're generally somewhat well-kempt...and they have to get the money to buy those instruments somewhere.

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I don't think that allf these types are necessarily bums. I think some of them are just people who like to play music on the street. They're generally somewhat well-kempt...and they have to get the money to buy those instruments somewhere.

Agreed, and I should qualify that I don't consider either of these people to be "bums" in the literal sense, because of their self-made work.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've noticed a trend over the years has shifted from them asking for "spare change?" to "got dollar or two to spare?"

This shows their lack of economic understand at it's most basic level. It also, I believe, shows that the welfare state has planted an ugly axiom of disserving without earning.

A rather agro man used sit a a piece of cardboard in front of shop. Asking for change, my friend put 5 cent down in a hasty manner, not paying to much attention to him which caused the man to scream "what am I meant to do with 5 cents?" and throw back at us. My friend picked it up and screamed back at him. It was all rather amusing in a tragic way.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Homeless people is a major problem of Lithuania. They don't work, they beg for change that they will probably sell on booze. I never give them my money, not even a single dime. But if somebody asks it for charity, I will give some. At least they ain't spend on alcohol sold in 'black market shops' or drugs on 'drug points'.

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I think that it is your choice to give money or not. Neither choice is imoral or moral.

My choice, I earn my money and wouldn't give it to anyone.

What you are implying here is that morality is a social question. However, Objectivism sees morality as a personal question first. For instance, if something is harmful to yourself, then to stop doing it would be the moral thing to do. The moral question is not whether you feel like doing something, but whether it is harmful, or beneficial, or neutral. Edited by softwareNerd
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  • 5 months later...

Just a little episode I thought I'd share:

About a month ago, there was a guy outside my grocery store asking for money. I didn't have any, but, when I came out of the store, I handed him a cup of soup and a job application for the store. He was my cashier today. :dough:

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Just a little episode I thought I'd share:

About a month ago, there was a guy outside my grocery store asking for money. I didn't have any, but, when I came out of the store, I handed him a cup of soup and a job application for the store. He was my cashier today. :dough:

Well done.

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Shall we say that morality cannot make universal declarations about whether or not I myself should give money to the homeless, but that very clearly it is immoral for some hippie tax collector to hand my money over to a civil servant who in turn bestows it upon a hobo?

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Just a little episode I thought I'd share:

About a month ago, there was a guy outside my grocery store asking for money. I didn't have any, but, when I came out of the store, I handed him a cup of soup and a job application for the store. He was my cashier today. :)

Holy crap, that's... well I was going to say amazing, but I realised that calling it 'amazing' kind of undermines the point: that there's nothing supernatural or magical about making money. You get a job. :D

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While I consider it theoretically proper for me to donate money to the homeless, the fact is that a greater proportion of homeless utilize such funds to further drug or alcohol habits rather than pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, in comparison to the average homed person. That's statistics.

It is certainly unfortunate for anyone homeless by means of circumstance outside their own choice, and I've certainly contributed to those who are homeless through immediate recognition of this kind of situation (i.e., I donated to the victims of the Parkersburg tornado that I chased last year), but many of the perpetually homeless have chosen to be so and therefore do not deserve handouts. For those using the handouts to maintain their situation (the aforementioned addicts, for instance), this is actually wrecking them further, making the action evil even if one is an altruist.

Those on the streets to whom I would not mind donating a dollar do exist, but to determine whether their case warrants it would be an improper expenditure of time in relation to my own life and to the minimal benefit they would gain from the amount I could rationally be free to give in my own context of finances. It's like setting laws about statutory rape - some younger people may be capable to evaluate complex sexual situations properly with one over-age, but such evaluation would take so long that it is more proper legally to hold to a properly evaluated standard that fits the majority.

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