“‘I’m a Texan. Not trash:’ Austin’s homeless navigate the battle between the city and Greg Abbott,” was a headline in the Houston Chronicle over a story by Sarah Smith designed to make readers feel guilty about cleaning up the filthy bum camps in Austin.
The story is familiar, a personal story of a 24-year-old homeless woman who is different from “the man who lives across from her who wears red-tinted glasses in the shape of lips and is so strung out on drugs that he talks to people who aren’t there,” the story reports while adding “But she’s not like that.”
If she’s not like that, not on drugs then why the heck isn’t she working? Austin has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the Western World at the moment and even nearby smaller cities and towns have tons of entry level jobs going begging for workers. There simply is no reason this person, who isn’t like those others on drugs, should be holding a cardboard sign asking for money and smearing dirty windshields at intersections to make a buck.
In another Chronicle story you get this gem: “They passed a law that people could tent out here. Then you go back on your word,” said Kendall Cook, a 48-year-old Austinite who lost his apartment when he went to jail and has been homeless on and off for the past three years.”
Like most all of these stories the authors just gloss over the “went to jail” and other key facts in the sob stories that demonstrate that other than the seriously mentally ill, most all of the bums are “homeless” because of the decisions they have taken, over and over, especially in this jobs-rich economy.
If you’re “not trash” try not living like such.
The story is familiar, a personal story of a 24-year-old homeless woman who is different from “the man who lives across from her who wears red-tinted glasses in the shape of lips and is so strung out on drugs that he talks to people who aren’t there,” the story reports while adding “But she’s not like that.”
If she’s not like that, not on drugs then why the heck isn’t she working? Austin has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the Western World at the moment and even nearby smaller cities and towns have tons of entry level jobs going begging for workers. There simply is no reason this person, who isn’t like those others on drugs, should be holding a cardboard sign asking for money and smearing dirty windshields at intersections to make a buck.
In another Chronicle story you get this gem: “They passed a law that people could tent out here. Then you go back on your word,” said Kendall Cook, a 48-year-old Austinite who lost his apartment when he went to jail and has been homeless on and off for the past three years.”
Like most all of these stories the authors just gloss over the “went to jail” and other key facts in the sob stories that demonstrate that other than the seriously mentally ill, most all of the bums are “homeless” because of the decisions they have taken, over and over, especially in this jobs-rich economy.