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Comment by CydeWeys | Hacker News Reader

Not to put too fine a point on it, but he's a leech on society. He has two children he could not support (and has no contact with), he's constantly mooching off others for his basic needs, and there's not a word in the article about him ever doing a single thing productive for society. And unlike many other homeless people who legitimately are unable to contribute productively, this is all his choice.

He's lucky he's in modern society where we at least take some care of people like him. Go back further in time and he'd have been ostracized from his hunter-gatherer community for not contributing, and would've lived a short life as a hermit.

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He is advocating for the homeless in order to help them not freeze in the winter. So he's got that going for him, which is nice.

A bit less noble when it's in his direct interest, wouldn't you say?

Which isn't to say that self-advocacy is in some way dirty, we should all stand up for our self-interest insofar as it is otherwise ethical.

Really? Why do you assume any society is free of leeches? Heck, even Torrent has them. I think he probably would be a shaman or something like that and he would still live a similar life.

Funny, he'd fit more in a hunter-gatherer society because guess what they also don't have... (to spell it out: money).

I mostly agree with what you write, but "You have to contribute productively" is such a capitalist mindset that it draws for me the picture of you being a Gordon Gekko type.

I wonder if he'd agree to do some work like cleaning the city parks in exchange for some "gifted" groceries and a room. Obviously the city doesn't want to enter into customized barters with all its employees.

> Funny, he'd fit more in a hunter-gatherer society because guess what they also don't have... (to spell it out: money).

His refusal to use money is really a lampshade on a refusal to do anything useful period. Plenty of people don't interact with money yet still manage to provide useful goods and services in exchange for necessities. He's not doing any of that either.

> "You have to contribute productively" is such a capitalist mindset that it draws for me the picture of you being a Gordon Gekko type.

You've got me pegged all wrong. This transcends affront to capitalism to affront to all forms of societal organization; guy is a mooch, pure and simple, unwilling to do anything to help others but perfectly willing to accept all help from others for his own benefit. No society would put up with him, capitalistic or otherwise. He's a deadbeat father who wouldn't even do anything to support his own kids.

> I wonder if he'd agree to do some work like cleaning the city parks in exchange [...]

Based on what I read in the article it doesn't seem like he's willing to do any work at all. No mentions of performing any work or services in exchange for essentials; it's all freely given to him by charitable people and organizations.

I agree with you. there is nothing to be proud of in his case except that his life doesn't seem to be affected directly by inflation so long as the rest of society keeps its status quo.

I like you recognize that capitalism and money are not the same as productivity and value add....he doesn't seem to do the latter but he benefits still from the former because as you said he is a mooch.

He could easily volunteer his time and return some of what he has received in labour, but he doesn't even do that.

Money exists in other forms other names money is effort and effort is time, your time.

Hunter-gatherer societies would have an equivalent of money not literally notes and coins but trading their effort and time. It is literally a society, people gather in a group for mutual advantage. The advantage being I don't want to personally make, build, do everything to survive so you trade skills which is effort and time which is essentially money.

> "You have to contribute productively" is such a capitalist mindset

No it’s not. All socialist/communist societies required all able-bodied people to work, described themselves as worker-led, and idolized work in their propaganda.

Good point. The hammer and sickle aren't implements of leisure, after all.

It's really all societies that require capable people to pull their own weight, not just capitalism. Even money-free communes/kibbutzes have chore rotations and expect everyone to pull their own weight regarding necessary tasks like farming, cooking, cleaning, maintenance, child-raising, etc.

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