Slashdot Mirror
Miami Considers Ban On Feeding the Homeless Without Training
The Miami City Commission will consider a proposal next month that would make it illegal for "unauthorized people and groups" to feed the homeless. They say the ordinance will cut down on litter and ensure the safety of the food that the homeless eat. Anyone without formal training who is caught giving food away would first receive a warning and then fines up to $300 for subsequent food offerings. Without laws like this the homeless might start to associate people with food, and the only thing more inconvenient than having to look at a homeless person in the morning is having to run away from cannibals.
Wouldn't a ban on giving the homeless money for alcohol and drugs do a lot more to protect their health? Fining someone for buying a homeless person a burger sounds like a real dick move.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
So, if you feel pity for the poor, or have christian believes you want to follow - this will be illegal? Being compassionate towards your fellow will be a crime? Giving help will be punishable? Good planning Corporate America for the *Zombing the nation* project
A couple of the food establishments around here used to give their waste food (pre-made snadwiches that were "on date" or always sold as "made today" being the main constituan, though fruit and veg was involved too) to a local hospice at the end of the day - an arragenment the hospice and the people (the truely homeless and those escaping from bad homes) it cared for. The council put a stop to it on health and safety grounds, lord knows why. Now the same food goes into bins that the homeless raid - how much more healthy and safe is that?!
In a lot of affluent places, laws like this are passed as an excuse to "clean up" certain areas. They use the excuse of protecting the homeless, but in reality use it to mask the social problem of poverty. They are usually only enforced in places that the city does not want to see homeless people, i.e. around the civic centers, etc.
wait cannibals what? that is a logical jump even evil Knievel could not make.
every anarchist is a baffled dictator. Benito_Mussolini
This, like this other slashdot story from a little ways back, is a useful test for distinguishing between enthusiasts of property rights and the just plain evil fuckers who often hide among them and use them for moral and intellectual cover.
To say that the homeless have no right to my property is simply a property rights position. To make it illegal to voluntarily practice charity, on the other hand, is the action of a worthless shitbag who hates the poor so much that they are willing to deny even the rights of those who aren't poor in order to hurt them.
(Now, ostensibly, this isn't an actual ban; but if anybody seriously expects this to be anything other than an attempt to discourage the practice, and if nothing else give the cops a pretext for hassling anybody seen feeding the homeless, I have a bridge to sell them.)
its really not that hard to donate food, just get your kitchen licensed/inspected and follow safe food handling procedures. A surprising amount of people do not know these simple skills.If you're in the food business, your're licensed, so just feed the homeless directly. Even the homeless deserve safe food.
The central problem is distinguishing:
Poor by Choice
Poor by Circumstance
Poor by Habit
The Poor by Habit will often masquerade the Poor by Circumstance (ex I don't have a drug habit - but my boss fired me and none of my family will take me in etc). And yes, this issue should generally be addressed by professionals, or you are far more likely reinforcing the same habits that got them there.