Comment by logicalmonster | Hacker News Reader

Comment by logicalmonster | Hacker News Reader

I'm sure private prisons have an obvious profit motive and pointing that out is very important.

But the question remains, what the hell do you do when there's literal zombies roaming the streets in America? That is not hyperbole.

> KENSINGTON AVE PHILADELPHIA AT NIGHT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOBoDT-3oM0

> Streets of Philadelphia, Kensington Avenue, What happened today, Aug, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi1Kf-1qd6Y&t=57s

>The Oakland, California Homeless Problem is Beyond Belief https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRWmKh13b50

> WALKING THROUGH LOS ANGELES UNBELIEVABLE OUT OF CONTROL HOMELESS SLUM | HOMELESS CRISIS IN AMERICA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WVDieQ8MsI&t=9s

> ZOMBIELAND TENT CITY METHADONE MILE BOSTON MASS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCgNaITiCXY

There's hundreds of videos like that on YouTube from many areas. It's easy to ignore when it's not near you.

Would you feel safe having this in your neighborhood? Would you be ok with your loved one taking a wrong turn somewhere and being stuck alone in any of these places? I'm not saying I love cops hassling homeless people for bullshit reasons, but there are some really out of control areas. How do you even start to deal with this?

Seems like a massive mental health and substance abuse issue combined with a cut-throat economy and lacking social safety net.

Public funding for healthcare, including mental health and rehab, would be a good start. Where do these people go even if they want help for their issues? Therapy and rehab cost tens of thousands of dollars. And throwing them in prison is just an “out of sight, out of mind” solution. Good luck getting a job and straightening your life out with prison time on your record.

You shouldn’t criminalize homelessness unless you’re also offering an alternative that actually helps people. But America will never do that, instead we just punch down and make an example out of the lowest among us instead of trying large scale solutions. There are localized nonprofits to help with this sort of thing, but they’re underfunded and limited in scope.

> Where do these people go even if they want help for their issues?

The crux of the problem, as I see it, is that in many cases the mental-illness/addiction is too strong and these people vehemently reject actual help even when freely offered.

I'm not advocating "criminalizing homelessness", but am simply pointing out that in practice, "criminalizing homelessness" might be the only workable solution to starting to get these people actual help. Many of these people will reject all actual help unless forced to go through some kind of drug treatment or mental health program.

Is being imprisoned an effective addiction treatment or therapy program? Would the threat of prison manage to turn people away from heroin or schizophrenia?

There is no publicly funded drug treatment or mental health program to send them to. Prison is just a temporary lockup before they’re returned to the same environment they came from. Where are you proposing we send them?

FWIW, I think we’re saying close to the same thing. I’m fine with disallowing people from openly camping in cities, but only if there’s a massive safety net to send them to that will actually help. Currently the anti-homeless sentiment is just being ginned up by corporate prisons who want more money. That’s clearly not a real solution.

>How do you even start to deal with this?

You propose imprisoning them? I'd legalize drugs, the prohibition is just contributing to the conditions you're complaining about.

> literal zombies

Probably the first step is not dehumanizing them into monsters. They are literally not "literal zombies."

The core problem is that we care more about not seeing or knowing about the problem than we do actually solving the problem.

It feels like a "Peak Reddit" moment when somebody cares more about the label used than the actual problem.

The point of that harsh label isn't to mock anybody, but to try and get normal people aware of this problem. Most average people are not aware of shocking scenes like that existing in America.

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