He's very confused : facepalm

[–] [email protected] 145 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

There's no confusion. People like this just don't think a homeless person deserves anything.

I imagine they take it as an affront, that a homeless man could have the "gall" to take charity from them, while he has a phone "hidden" in his pocket, as if that means he's a con-man, and not really in need at all.

In their mind, if a homeless man owns a phone, then he can't be genuinely destitute. If he was then he should sell that phone to afford his next meal, instead of begging on the street.

Never mind that a phone is probably the single most important tool to in modern life to stay informed and connected, not to mention and entertained and sane.

Never mind that a phone could be the difference between staying homeless for ever, or finding work.

No - if you are homeless then you certainly aren't allowed to own any tools that would help you get out of it.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It might also be their only way to apply for the benefits/shelter they're legally entitled to.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago (2 children)

My country gives free phones to the homeless because it's mandatory to function in today's world 🤷

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

There's charity programs in the US that do the same, and for people who aren't homeless but struggling. I agree it's a really important way of helping people.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Which first-world country is that?

[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 months ago (1 children)

When people say, "beggars can't be choosers", my response is always, "how do they stop being beggars, then, Karen?"

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The conservative mindset believes social class is preordained. Karen believes people who have become homeless are destined to remain that way and it'd be a waste of resources to try to help them.

If you look at it through this lens, the phone is just prolonging their thrashing before they accept their fate and starve to death.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yep. The video "Always a Bigger Fish" from Innuendo Studios helps to clarify that mentality quite well: https://youtu.be/agzNANfNlTs [21:46]

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

This video was great, thanks. I wish there was such a thing as a self aware conservative to refine the positions discussed and better understand how and why our worldviews differ

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I mean, I’m a conservative and I don’t believe this stuff, but I believe you if you’re saying you’ve met someone who does.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There's a lot more info on this when you relate it to an older analysis that says many people are seemingly in search of the 'deserving poor' as an excuse to never help anyone.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

they do not see and interpret reality.

they have their idea of what is, and then use visual input (for example) only as a muse to further develop that idea. you can't argue with them, because anything that doesn't support them just passes through (and if you trojan horse this, you are now the devil).

they're solipsists, and its by choice. not human beings, not entities in the same world as us, sharing the same context and world and connectedness and shit. in a very real way, these fuckers are taking the world from us, in a very real way, these fuckers are invaders from another world (a world they made up and does not exist, but which their consciousness occupies, which ours infringes upon).

that's why your uncle or whatever getting taken by fox news feels like such a loss. they are genuinely lost, the person is gone. no longer here. bricked in an unrecoverable manner.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Besides, phones are incredibly cheap now. I dropped my pixel 7 in a river a few weeks ago so I went to Walmart and asked for the cheapest android burner they had. For $100 it has a 90hz display, snapdragon 680, 5000mAh battery. I don't need any upgrade from this

[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 months ago

Old person mentality: smartphones are expensive and food is cheap.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 months ago (2 children)

If you're homeless or low income, there are programs through DHS that will send you a free phone and plan. It's not a great phone, but they still give people the ability to apply for jobs online, contact hospitals/case workers/ shelters, and to be safe in case of an emergency. I'm not sure if other states have it, but Michigan and Colorado do

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

they also set up tables at stores with a lot of poor people (like dollar stores), and they have free phones and set them up for you right there….

i’ve got several phones that way… for a while they had good data, but congress just ended ACP….

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The same person is confused that Africans also have phones: "What they are not using stone tools in Africa?"

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Don’t forget that Africa is a country.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Don't be ridiculous, it's clearly a Province.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Depends on who is trying economically exploit it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The original person's comment made sense up until about the 2010s if it was referring to 'smartphones'. Smartphones are extremely accessible to someone who is destitute today comparative to 15 years ago.

Most phone providers in the US at least, have programs where when you register a single line, you usually get either a basic "razor-esque" smartphone, or in some cases even the newest apple or Samsung line, because it costs them pennies to provide, but they profit off the recurring contract income.

Back in 2008, the only way you were getting the newest smartphone was if you had $500-1k in disposable income. But cell phones in general have been an inexpensive commodity since at least 2000.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's honestly kind of funny, because I feel like having the latest phone is way more expensive now than it was in the early/mid 2000s. I remember having pretty crazy offers for getting the latest flagship phones for free when you re-upped your contract. Even in High school I could afford to have the first 2 iPhones, and Galaxies S3-S6 brand new, 100% free, nothing added to my normal contract price whatsoever. Now, it seems like they just hide it in "24 easy payments" over the contract, maybe giving you a few hundred on trading in last year's $1500 phone, while you're still paying well over $1000 for a phone, just in $50/mo increments. Even now that I make good money, I can't fathom spending flagship phone money, and have been rocking my $300 loaded Note S20 5G for 3 years now.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

I purchased my Pixel 4a in 2020. Still going strong. $400, unlinked. And it helps me in my current homelessness.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You can get a free smartphone of reasonable quality if you meet certain qualifications. All expenses paid. Obama phone continues to provide for those in poverty, homeless, with low income medical insurance, food stamps, etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Too bad they've lost funding for the ACP and the whole program could be at risk. It has helped me and many people I know immensely

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Fucking conservatives, screwing people over yet again.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

I bet he ate Avocado Toast once too

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Long ongoing way to undermine poverty for middle class audiences:

I mean they have refrigerators ... how poor can they be ?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Could have made sense in 1995, at the latest(?)

There is a Czech "film" (more like home video tape) documenting the wedding of Prague homeless people in 2000, and the titular character famously uses his Nokia to organize the event in the hours prior. Someone apparently could not believe it and tagged it "scifi" on IMDB.

Facepalm