I am asking because I know people from both sides:
- People who discourage it: usually talk about how the beggars might spend their money on, how they might be lying, How donating to them will encourage them to keep begging and how they should be looking for a job instead (My commentary: finding a job is impossible for them this days, matter of fact there is literally hundreds, if not thousands of articles online talking about how hard and impossible it had become).
- People who encourage it: to be honest here, they usually talk only about religious reasons.
(Note: I know that the overview about both sides are highly unbalanced, but I preferred to keep it limited to my personal experiences rather than expanding it from myself, as I intentionally not looking for theories and objective logic, rather I am looking at people reasons and opinions as this is highly subjective matter.)
Anyone got any thoughts about this?
This is just putting your own morals and conditions on generosity and also assuming you know what’s best for the homeless person. Yes, I agree we need systemic change to address homelessness but that’s not what this is about. I think we should give without judgement. You’re not gonna give them the whole rehabilitation treatment and society has failed them, who are you to judge if the next fix is or isn’t the best thing for them to cope, minimize their suffering, make it through a hard day or cold night?
This whole conversation wreaks of holier than thou.
Acknowledging crippling dependence != judgement
Do you know how addiction works?
You’re assuming crippling dependency and yes you are making a judgement, it’s your whole reason why you’re not giving money. Yes I know how addiction works I’m 6 years clean from hard drug use and was an addict for about an long.
Addiction is rarely the root cause of homelessness, it’s a byproduct, and it’s something people do to cope with their hard reality. If these people’s society hadn’t failed them they likely wouldn’t be turning to hard drugs to numb the pain of their existence.
Addiction was simply an example of why a homeless person might not be able to handle money reponsibly. It was not an assumption about what made them homeless, nor was it a judgement on their character. I don’t disagree with anything your saying, so I don’t see the problem. And I don’t refuse giving any aid. I just think giving to an organization is more likely to help a person than giving to them directly. Maybe if I was handing out in volumes of $1k it’d be enough to change soneone’s like, but obvioualy most can’t afford to do that.