Fake homeless people?

Anyone get the suspicion that a guy (or a gal) you see out taking change seems to be planted there? Just something about the way they act is less "Im a bum don't talk to me" and more "hiyah, I've got my act down, you like my social experiment?" Now I know it sounds extreme but I read this off folks, and I don't think its aliens.. Just something I've noticed, past 4 years, like people seem out of place, a bit too like they have an in, and like its some way maybe to get us used to seeing homeless folks standing around. Like the whole I'm a crack addict thing is just an act. Fyi there are and have been bums camping where i work, where im at, and they don't seem to be anything but irritating. Do people go do that just to see the heck what it is like? And...why?? This is just a personal opinion, and you can ask me for specifics if you'd like. I just want to know if you've encountered it.

a reply to: breakingbs

it's is a big business for some, they aree not homeless. there are lots of articles and news stories about them.

a reply to: breakingbs

Its like everything else, there's always a VERY SMALL minority who take advantage.

But that doesn't mean we should ignore those without a home!

Help those without homes!!!

Voidhawk im not interested unless i know them and not a social crusader. I know, bad person. Distance yourself from me. But im honest.

originally posted by: breakingbs
Voidhawk im not interested unless i know them and not a social crusader. I know, bad person. Distance yourself from me. But im honest.

Nah! your just posting Titles to change opinion!

I cant change anyone's opinion at all nor would I want to.

The "Homeless" have been defined upwards in our consciousness. It used to be the rank and file citizen called the "homeless" tramps, bums, and hobos with not a thought about the terms. If you used the term "homeless" in 18th century London, for example, people would just be perplexed. They wouldn't quite get where you were coming from. When I was homeless myself in the early seventies, I didn't even know it. I just thought I was between jobs and no longer had an apartment. In that sense, being "homeless" is a state of mind. It took me about three years to get out of that "space" and into respectable housing, but I just thought that was life and I was working through it. Looking back from today's perspective I think, "Wow, that was actually pretty bad." but I didn't actually think so at the time--so it wasn't.

It's the same thing with PTSD. During WW II and the Korean War a very few of our soldiers suffered from what we then called "Shell shock." They really were debilitated and couldn't live normal lives. Today any soldier who hears a loud bang or undergoes combat is said to have PTSD and we're all supposed to think how traumatic it is, poor folks. (And before any veteran jumps in here and starts yelling how true it all is, just stifle. I'm a veteran myself, so don't go telling me how it really is because I've been there. I just don't complain about it.) But the fact is combat ain't pretty and a whole lot of college-age guys went through it. Today the same age needs a "safe space" in case anyone says a bad word. And, oh, btw, they need free tuition, too. Ever heard of the GI Bill? That's where you EARN your tuition by service to your country, and compared to how it was when I got it, it's pretty damn good these days.

And for the record, I don't think we should ignore the homeless. I think we should open up a bunkhouse with showers and toilets and heat and get them out of the elements. But I don't think we should be expected to provide folks large screen TV's.

Apparently you have not been out much..I've worked in DC,and have seen plenty of "Homeless people"for instance I've seen them sleeping on on park benches,I once came across raggedy old woman wearing a wig mumbling to herself.It''s sad Man,but real...

a reply to: schuyler

Pretty much agree w most what you just said. With these people now its straight, home things, suburb stories, mom kicked me out, pregnant for six years addicted to this addicted to that, why you walking around in pjs for f!#$ sake, listens to pop on phone, tells me how it is about jobs and streets and crack and choices and buildings and the stuff they all see, worst ever thing on earth and soforth and I just shut up give em a token and leave because I just cant is all...x|


Oh yeah and give em a room, $300, want a teddy bear, here's an analog box that plays noise, some drugs, a chocolate box and an aids diagnosis, blank out and go to sleep. :/ sigh.

Maybe you're noticing undercover and they need to practice more?

Im just like all the rest and I tell it like it is, 100%, like 90% of the time.

a reply to: Iamthatbish

That's what I thought xcept theyre really really bad :/ Like really bad.

a reply to: breakingbs
I'm not sure if it is still a fad but a few years ago it was quite the thing among college kids to "drop out" for a semester or a year to live "wild"; to intentionally be "homeless" in order to understand their plight.
I had a young relative who took that route. He left Kentucky with $200 in his pocket and a bus ticket to Portland, Oregon. He was robbed of the money in the St. Louis bus terminal and called his Mom to send him money. Seems that his big speech about his newly discovered principles: making it on his own, getting by without help from anyone, blah, blah, blah was just a word salad. All those principles evaporated the minute his pockets were empty. But he did continue on to Portland and "made it" for eight months with occasional "donations" from his grandparents.

There are some that scam, but I think there are a lot more who we could classify as professional homeless, they could take steps to not be, but they like what they are doing and it pays ok. I don't give much to homeless, but I do give often to few people that sit on a corner with a sign and still have a house, but they have low or no income due to age and illness, and I want them to keep their houses.

I met a street person in Vegas who was not homeless, he had a home, a mortgage, and two kids. He asked me for five bucks for coffee, I told him coffee doesn't cost five bucks. At least it didn't in 2000. He then asked me for a buck, I said sorry I don't have much money myself. He asked for a cigarette and I gave him one and we started talking. He said he dresses down at night to go out begging because he makes more doing that than working a job. He told me some people give him enough money so he can make a living, he told me what he made and it was more than I was making a year. He was a real nice guy. He was right though, If you are going to make a living begging, it is good to do it in a place where people kind of feel guilty for what they are doing.

a reply to: diggindirt

Lol can't blame the lil guy for tryin'

a reply to: breakingbs

Running rampant in Boston...overheard two young men talk about which i-phone they would be getting the next day...also noticed one alleged Vietnam vet with a leg missing who I witnessed get off a nice scooter wearing a leather jacket and Burberry style scarf go in the corner mall only to change into some beat up clothes. His prosthetic was removed before he came out.

This however does not deter me giving to those who look ruff..even if you give a buck to some scam artist just remember that good karma is good karma..

a reply to: chrismarco

I don't really "belieeeve" in karma, but I kind of believe in karma, if that makes any sense. As in I'd be doing it regardless of what the sap told me :/

I believe some folks are planted on the streets to report back to "them''. They are sometimes called narcs. Some aren't planted and actually have it hard, but report to ''them'' anyways.

a reply to: peppycat

The ones I encounter come across more like "you wiiilll tolerate the homeless brigade...you willlll" in which case its like, pfff. Whateverman. Eyeroll. Oh yeah and don't spin me a line. Just take ur change..