914Driver wrote:
See Michelle Obama working a food pantry for homeless people? One of the patrons whips out his cell phone to take her picture.
Anything wrong with that picture?
No sir, there is not a god damned thing wrong with that picture. You want this guy to get a job and get himself off the street, right? Without (presumably) a fixed address, he definitely needs a reliable way to communicate with other people to get himself back on his feet. A prepaid cellphone is what, 30 bucks? Maybe a relative got it for him so they can keep in touch? If anything I'd say the homeless guy who hasn't spent a relatively small amount of money on a device that will be somewhat essential to him in his quest to improve his situation in life probably isn't trying hard enough.
I really don't get this (seemingly common) attitude that implies that any public charity should entail some sort of punishment for the mortal sin of being poor. Is the idea that people will just get so embarrassed to be seen in a soup line or sleeping on a park bench that one day they'll just up and decide not to be poor anymore? Or, in a more realistic scenario, kill themselves? I honestly can't understand the goal of such sentiment.
I don't mean to project anything on you that you didn't mean, 914, but that argument really presses my buttons, and it wouldn't be the first time I have heard someone reference that photo in a manner that assumes we should be outraged that one of those no-good dirty homeless people is somehow allowed to have a real-person tool like a cell phone.