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6 Homeless People Saved By the Internet
An anonymous reader writes "With Ted Williams's story (the homeless man with the golden voice, saved by the internet) blowing up online, and in the traditional media, we figured it was time to tell the stories of 5 other homeless people who've found success, be it financial or personal, through the wonderful use of this series of tubes we call The Internet."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlBiLNN1NhQ
5 people with a great life are now homeless, because their jobs are taken (indirectly) by those 5 homeless.
You, my friend, are falling for the lump of labor fallacy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy
Adrian Lamo, Homeless Hacker Genius
Really? Shiftless snitch with no conscience, perhaps. But "genius hacker"?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
For what it's worth, I'm in that situation as well. Some years back I wound up homeless after an accident threw my life into turmoil. I recovered physically, to some extent. But found that my entire life had been thrown into turmoil by the new status of "limping and scarred dude". It was social death in the superficial crowd I was in and employed by, and the job fled as quickly as the people eager to stab anyone in the back to advance. I found first my wife, then my money, and finally my job gone. However, I kept my laptop even as I lost a roof under which to use it. It took a while to get back on my feet, but it was entirely by taking small telecommuting jobs found over the net over a four month period or so. If that seems like a rather long time, keep in mind that I had other concerns as well such as "eat" and "don't get fuckin' cut by either your fellows or random crazies". I'd feel more positive about the experience if I wasn't on the verge of having to worry about that all over again. My rambling point is that one shouldn't feel like these stories have a finality to them. They might have a happily ever after, but they might wind up right back where they were. Because to get to the point of being homeless is to lack a social support structure. And once you've been homeless, it can be horribly difficult to get that back. Because the lack of such usually starts out with either an abusive family, or one you've seen die around you. And continues on to friends who wound up throwing you away when you most needed them. It's not easy to open yourself up socially again after something like that happens. It might not seem important, but that view only comes from within a life that hasn't ever really experienced it. People need people, it's just a fact of our species. And you get screwed up pretty quickly from the lack.
Everything will be taken away from you.
As someone who was homeless, I think I can explain to some extent. Homeless people tend to be kind of nuts. If you don't start out that way, it's highly probable you're going to end up that way eventually. It's a life of living like an animal, never being able to trust anyone, and often going days without more than a few words to another human being. Hell, you often forget how to actually participate in a real conversation pretty quickly. It's a bit like when you don't speak a second language for a while. Except not with the secondary language, but the primary. You usually only make it out by having something that can remain untainted by that, or just a lot of luck. It's not so much deserving to escape it, but that being the only way. Personally, I don't have money right now. But when I did, after being homeless, I tried to help as much as I could. And there's a LOT you can do. And it comes into play far more from direct interaction than from donating to charity. I never saw a dime of charity when I was homeless. Most don't. A person talking to me though, with respect, as a human being. And possibly buying and eating lunch with me. That happened, and it was worth more to me than words can express. It doesn't have to be the wealthy, by any means. Even if you're lower middle class, it's in you to save any of these peoples lives. It probably won't, but there's still a chance that a single shared meal can do it.
Everything will be taken away from you.