Not sure if this is the right forum - Mods please feel free to move it....

Japan gets hit by its biggest ever earthquake, then a Tsunami and of course nuclear fallout from Fukushima. The world goes into emotional meltdown as 160,000 people are left homeless...

But hang on...160,000 homeless? It is of course a dreadful figure and an enormous humanitarian disaster - but in New York City in 2010 113,000 needed the use of a homeless shelter and on some individual nights recently 40,000 made use of homeless shelters. Where's the urgency to deal with that problem? Where is the despair at the plight of the dispossessed in New York City?

It almost goes without saying but right now across the USA there are a projected ONE MILLION people who are homeless - the figures from Japan almost pale into insignificance when the comparison is made. Why is there not the same sense of urgency politically in the USA to resolve this issue?

Oz

I can see what you mean Jude and essentially you are correct. It just strikes me as odd that becoming dispossessed as a consequence of a natural disaster (over which no one has control) - leads to all sorts of action and intervention whereas if you become dispossessed as a consequence of social, political or economic disaster then you're very much left to 'get on with it'. No one really seems interested in whether you had any control over those social, political or economic events at all. It's just 'tough'. The default position appears to be that 'It's your own fault' and not a seismic one.

Oz

Originally posted by Ozscot
I can see what you mean Jude and essentially you are correct. It just strikes me as odd that becoming dispossessed as a consequence of a natural disaster (over which no one has control) - leads to all sorts of action and intervention whereas if you become dispossessed as a consequence of social, political or economic disaster then you're very much left to 'get on with it'. No one really seems interested in whether you had any control over those social, political or economic events at all. It's just 'tough'. The default position appears to be that 'It's your own fault' and not a seismic one.

Oz

I see your point.

The other issue is that the homeless in our own Countries are invisible to us and the Govt. as well. We don't see them because we choose not to. It's horrifying to look our possible future in the eye, realize that many of us are but a weekly paycheck from the same fate and confront it.

When it happens because of a disaster, it's newsworthy and water cooler fodder. We are hit full force with an impact factor that is the stuff of nightmares.

Therein lies the difference.

I'd rather my tax money go to the Japanese. At least we know they'll do something with it unlike the typical American welfare recipient.

Again, someone who has no idea of the complexities or the facts surrounding homelessness and who'd rather deal with it by appealing to useless generalisations. Is it any wonder the USA is in a mess? No they didn't get in over their heads or run up debt - they woke one morning to find their salaries had been legally slashed by 25% and ordered onto furloughs in a bid to rein in State Spending. And what part of the 'Japanese' having jobs doesn't equate with Americans who have jobs? The people I'm referring to above are as I described - Teachers and Librarians to name but two and no they are not unemployed - they are in employment. But cosy yourself with your preconceived notions if it helps.

Oz