Homeless, prostitutes and addicts!

Tinkerbelle · 01-03-2005, 15:00

Has anyone been watching the programme that is on BBC 1 at 9.15 am, can anyone shed a light on why this programmes portrays these homeless, prostitutes and addicts as though we should feel sorry for them. Only in exceptional cases is a person genuinely homeless through no fault of their own, the rest of them live this way by choice. Am i just being heartless

??

rockrabbit · 01-03-2005, 15:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinkerbelle

Has anyone been watching the programme that is on BBC 1 at 9.15 am, can anyone shed a light on why this programmes portrays these homeless, prostitutes and addicts as though we should feel sorry for them. Only in exceptional cases is a person genuinely homeless through no fault of their own, the rest of them live this way by choice. Am i just being heartless

??

no you aint my old foreman used to pick his wife up everynight from work in burnley centre there was a homeless bloke sat there all the time he asked my foreman for spare change of which my foreman offered him a job the bloke soon walked away . I know what id have done with that complete waste of society . Another bloke came into my works one day asking for work he d been sleeping in the scrapyard as he said he d had his tent nicked and his bag and was desperate he was like a sort of tree hugger he only lasted 1 day of which he went to sleep at every opportunity even on the dirt outside . We heard a few weeks later he was living in a tent near the ski slope and was a glue sniffer

chav1 · 01-03-2005, 15:57

nope theres no excuse for been homeless in the uk period.

if you cant be bothered to help your self then why should anyone help you

as for drug addicts
they knew what drugs would do to them when they said yes to their 1st fix so they should be left in the gutter to die and save plenty of innocent people especialy the elderly from been robbed and mugged

if an addict sorts themselves out on their own accord then bravo to them but why should we pay for their recovery etc

just on a note about homles people again

if you are willing to wotrk you will find work , not one of my jobs has ever been got from the job centre or news paper i always go round companies asking if they have vacancies and if not i ask for an application form and ask to be kept in mind

also return every few weeks and ask again so they remember me and notice that i am keen to work

some people are out of work simply because they think a job is beneath them

if cleaning toilets put food on my familys table i would do it but some people pull their face at the idea of cleaning toilets

if there wasnt such a soft benefits system people would sonn be scrubbing toilets etc

dont get me wrong ime not saying it about all peole on benefits but there are clearly a lot of people on benefits because they are simply either bone idle or too fussy about what they do for a living

Tinkerbelle · 01-03-2005, 16:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by chav1

if an addict sorts themselves out on their own accord then bravo to them but why should we pay for their recovery etc

just on a note about homles people again

It said on the programme that the Government puts in £1 billion pound to help these people but in actual fact they actually cost society about £17 billion.

It also showed the addicts and homeless being given food by church helpers and other societies, wouldn't these people be better off helping and supporting the likes of old people and other people that genuinely deserve the churches help not these society opt-outs!!!

pendy · 01-03-2005, 18:15

can't agree altogether - I have sometimes thought "There but for the Grace of God ..."

Druggies do ask for it. Everyone knows the risks, those who take them cannot complain.

Sometimes people are homeless not through their own fault. I won't go into cases, but I have known some. If too many things go wrong at once, the slippery slope can take you down all too quickly.

Prostitutes are not all the same, there are young girls who are forced into it, mostly from Central Europe, and unable to help themselves. If anyone goes into it with eyes wide open for the money, okay - their choice. However, someone said above that they would clean toilets if it put food on the table for their kids. There are women on the game because it puts food on the table for their kids - how can we judge them?
If it had ever been a choice between my children going hungry or me taking to the streets, I'd have been on that corner like a shot. It just never happened that way, so you could say I was lucky.

Can't judge generally - too many different reasons, too many different cases.

Tinkerbelle · 01-03-2005, 18:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by pendy

If it had ever been a choice between my children going hungry or me taking to the streets, I'd have been on that corner like a shot.

In this day and age there is no reason for a women to sell her body to feed her kids, there are enough charities out there willing to help and surely asking for help leaves you with a little more dignity than selling your body?

vorlon24 · 01-03-2005, 18:26

Some women don't see it selling their body - they are selling a service

Tinkerbelle · 01-03-2005, 18:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by vorlon24

Some women don't see it selling their body - they are selling a service

But this 'service' causes a problem for those who have to live with it on their doorsteps.

luke orourke 1988 · 01-03-2005, 18:42

most people on the streets have been kicked out of there house and ave nowhere to go.

garinda · 01-03-2005, 18:43

lf we were honest enough to see that prostitution isn't going to go away, & was legalised , it wouldn't be on our doorstep. lt could be monitered, health issues could be adressed, & they'd be able to pay tax!
There's a lot of hypocracy re: the law, it's not illegal to be a prostitute, but it is to solicit for the purpose of prostitution. You can work from a flat legally selling sex, but 2 people in the same flat is classed as a brothel, & is illegal.

WillowTheWhisp · 01-03-2005, 18:47

I agree with Pendy that you can't generalise and there are some people who end up homeless because they haven't a clue how to get help or where to turn. Have you seen the ad on TV which starts off showing a proud and noble soldier who then ends up a homeless wreck because things which happened (mainly the death of his wife) were just too much for him to be able to cope with. Some people can handle things far better than others and I would never judge someone without knowing their circumstances.

Somewhere along the lines there must be something wrong when people like this "slip through the net".

As for prostitutes. I suppose there always have been and always will be but I know what you mean Tinkerbelle. It's not something you want on your own doorstep or in a previously respectable area. I feel sorry for the ones who are brought over here, used and abused because they probably get very little out of it for themselves and are little more than slaves. I should imagine that a great many of them are ashamed of what they are doing too. It's easy to say "something should be done about it" and I often find myself saying that but then I thing - "What?"

Drug addicts, well I sort of feel sorry for the addicts if they are trying to come off the stuff and feel more disgust for the pushers who got them hooked in the first place but it does nark me a bit when they seem to get preferential treatment (I'm not saying they do I'm saying it just looks like that sometimes) on the NHS and other folk slip further down the waiting lists as a result.

Tinkerbelle · 01-03-2005, 18:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

lf we were honest enough to see that prostitution isn't going to go away, & was legalised , it wouldn't be on our doorstep. lt could be monitered, health issues could be adressed, & they'd be able to pay tax!

No i agree garinda prostitution isn't going to go away but if it was legalised it would no longer be easy money and would the prostitutes actually pay taxes and go legal or would we just have more prosecutions to go through the court system for benefit fraud?

WillowTheWhisp · 01-03-2005, 18:56

Maybe some would pay tax and some wouldn't. There are people who work "cash in hand" in lots of ways even if their trade is legal. I suppose there'll always be benefit cheats too. They really do annoy me when other people are struggling and paying tax.

garinda · 01-03-2005, 18:59

People have ended up homless because their job ends, marriages fail, all sorts of reasons.Like someone said soldiers are vunerable to this, serve your country then thank you very much, no home because accomodation has been provided. Young people coming out of care are again if unsupported are @ risk of being on the streets.
l don't know about round here, but in London, if you don't have an address= no job, & if you're unempoyed you can't get a flat.
It's easy to critisize, but there but for the grace of God...

Tinkerbelle · 01-03-2005, 19:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

I agree with Pendy that you can't generalise and there are some people who end up homeless because they haven't a clue how to get help or where to turn. Have you seen the ad on TV which starts off showing a proud and noble soldier who then ends up a homeless wreck because things which happened (mainly the death of his wife) were just too much for him to be able to cope with. Some people can handle things far better than others and I would never judge someone without knowing their circumstances.

Somewhere along the lines there must be something wrong when people like this "slip through the net".

As for prostitutes. I suppose there always have been and always will be but I know what you mean Tinkerbelle. It's not something you want on your own doorstep or in a previously respectable area. I feel sorry for the ones who are brought over here, used and abused because they probably get very little out of it for themselves and are little more than slaves. I should imagine that a great many of them are ashamed of what they are doing too. It's easy to say "something should be done about it" and I often find myself saying that but then I thing - "What?"

Drug addicts, well I sort of feel sorry for the addicts if they are trying to come off the stuff and feel more disgust for the pushers who got them hooked in the first place but it does nark me a bit when they seem to get preferential treatment (I'm not saying they do I'm saying it just looks like that sometimes) on the NHS and other folk slip further down the waiting lists as a result.

I agree Willow thats why i said in exceptional cicumstances i genuinely feel for those on the street through no fault of there own, anybody can struck down with mental illness or something similar.
Drug addicts i have absolutely no sympathy for. Pushers don't get people hooked people get themselves hooked in my opinion. On that programme the addicts were wingeing because they had to wait 15 weeks for hospital appointments! I couldn't help but think well who's fault is that!!!