A letter to the editor of the S.F. Chronicle really got my blood boiling. I’ll quote just part of it; hopefully the bureaucratic gobblety-goop won’t turn you off. “Sociologically, homelessness underscores the interplay of personal agency, structural limitations and social dynamics. While shelter options exist, factors like past trauma, safety concerns, mental health challenges and lack of autonomy in shelters can significantly deter individuals from accepting them. The decision to refuse shelter often stems from a need for independence, the desire to maintain personal belongings and a reluctance to conform to institutional rules.”
This is the bizarre logic of the Left, which has resulted in people setting up tents wherever they want to and disfiguring entire neighborhoods. It thwarts historical norms and allows for deviant behavior to become the new norm, as part of the woke campaign against public safety, law and public mores. For wokes, “a reluctance to conform to institutional rules” is a valid excuse for certain people to indulge in behaviors that, for most of history throughout the world, have been deemed inexcusable.
Personally, I don’t really care about these excuses. Past trauma? We’re all hurting. All of us have been through hell, in one way or another. But when you live in a civilized society, you’re expected to “conform to institutional rules.” It’s no excuse to say you’re suffering from trauma. If you want to live alongside us, deal with your trauma on your own and obey the law.
As for “lack of autonomy in shelters,” if you want your own private apartment, don’t expect the taxpayers to give you one. Earn the money, the way the rest of us do, so you can afford “autonomy.” We taxpayers are spending a great deal of our money to help the homeless find shelter and other services, and what do we get for it? Complaints and resentment. Well, stop complaining. Be grateful for what you get. If your “need for independence” leads you to set up a tent in the park, then your “need” becomes a problem for the greater society. You don’t have the right to do that. The streets belong to us, and so do the parks; we pay for them, and we don’t want homeless people befouling our public spaces. If you really, really need independence, you can always move to the woods somewhere.
Harsh words? Yes. But they must be said. Lots of people think the same way, but they’re afraid to admit it publicly because of the ostracism that occurs in cancel culture. I think there are some homeless people who truly need and deserve our help, and I’m happy to see my tax dollars spent on them. But from my experience (and I’ve closely observed the homeless in my Uptown/Downtown neighborhood for decades) the great majority of them choose to live the way they do. Drugged out and sociopathic, they shouldn’t benefit from the taxpayers’ benevolence. As my father used to tell me when I’d get into trouble, “You made your own bed, Steve, and now you have to sleep in it.” Actions, in other words, have consequences. You can’t give the finger to societal norms and then expect the citizens you’ve flipped off to send you money. That’s not the way it works.
Have a wonderful weekend! Support our cops!
Steve Heimoff