I really want an answer to this from people who are not reddit-brained libs. I have seen some good points elsewhere about this contributing to a cycle of abuse and control, causing parents to withdraw their kids from school to beg instead, etc., but if someone is desperate enough to humiliate themselves by begging on the street, shouldn't we give to them? Or should I feel bad that I did give to them?
I've heard variations on most of these in the USA
Afaik it's just flatly not true, and something people say to imply homeless and poor people are faking. In the usa i've heard news stories claiming people make a good living panhandling, and it's always just rubbish, or it turns out the "nice house" the person owns had the mortage paid off long ago and they're panhandling because they can't work and have no income.
in the us, at least, half of all homeless people have a mental illness, and it's often a severe mental illness that prevents them from getting work.
i'm sure there are lots of masjids and gurdwaras and churches and whatever handing out food. The people begging might have some other issue, who knows. Even so, cash is cash, and you need cash for many things - paying for a cellphone, maybe, or tampons/pads, or just something to making being desperately poor less miserable.
I've had folks follow me. I think, if you're in that situation, trying to hustle people for more money probably makes a lot of sense. You're not getting much help to begin with, and I imagine people who do help might be able to be pressured to do more. It sucks, it feels really bad, but I think people do it bc their situation is desperate. Idk, I think the vast majority of people would rather be doing anything else than hustle people for a few more lira.
idk what the demographics are in Istanbul, but if you couldn't figure out what language they were speaking i suspect they'd have a very, very hard time finding work, dealing with the police, dealing with government services. In the usa people speaking anything other than English have great trouble. Minneapolis has a large Somali people and finding English to Somali translators was always a problem. The little kids who translate for their parents are heroes.
also from the usa - any minority population here, no matter how good their english is, they face a lot of discrimination in housing, jobs, education, and government services. Cops will do sweeps targetting black people or american indigenous people, things like that. If the folks you were talking to were Roma or another marginal minority there's a good chance they're on the street because society and the state shut them out. I know a little about the Roma struggle in Europe and it is dire - brutal official discrimination at every level of government, frequent violence or even pogroms from Europeans, great discrimination in jobs and work. European racism against Roma, or people they think are Roma, seems insane and vicious even by the standards of America, a nation built on race terror. There are maginalized groups like that all over the world who are subjected to brutal violence by society and the state. Often indigenous people like America indigenous people, or Maya in central america. Or people of "low caste" like Dalits in India or Burakumin in Japan. Society hates them, society creates the conditions that keep them in a miserable situation, and then society use's their situation to justify the hate.
My take is always - i'd rather give money to someone who doesn't need it than refuse money to someone who does. Much worse to withhold help from someone in need than refuse someone who genuinely needs a hand.
It's funny, there are endless stories about beggars being important people in disguise. Jewish people are always expecting Elijah to show up. Vikings could never be sure if the stranger at the door asking for a meal and a place to sleep by the fire was Odin. Many European fairy tales feature a beggar who is revealed later to be a fairy or a prince or a saint who later rewards or punishes the main character. In the Hebrew Bible god sends two angels to Sodom, Lot takes them in and protects them, and the rest of the city is destroyed for violating the laws of hospitality.
Thanks, yeah it looked like a lot of bullshit online. In the UK, people always tell you don't interact, keep walking, etc., it's fucked. After hearing this repeatedly and not exactly being well off myself I eventually internalised the message. Wild.
Yeah, it's insidious. I'm constantly upset by the idea that my parents or friends will judge me for "giving people handouts" and i always have to push it down. Culture is real, and powerful, and strongly effects how we think and behave. Pushing back against violence in our culture is like swimming up river - a constant effort, and wouldn't it be so much easier to just float with the current?
I hope things will get better, soon, for everyone.
Recently saw new signs in a grocery store parking lot telling you not to give panhandlers money and to donate to charities instead that gives me an immense urge to cover them in spray paint.
And look at that, how convenient, the store is collecting on behalf of the charity from customers. How nice of them to get someone else to fund their tax write offs. Fucking hate that that is a thing
"Don't give 20$ to a hungry person. Give 20$ to an NGO that, after all it's overhead costs, might give 2-3$ to someone, somewhere.
Even that benign scenario is extremely unlikely to happen. Anyone with too much money has better ways of making money.
"You fool! That's Warren Buffet you just gave $20 to! He has this side hustle where he puts on dirty clothes and tricks people on the street out of their money. He learned it at Davos."