Ask them to break a $20.
What happens if they naturally learn to collect money, and we record these activities through our hearsay? If we expect them to be able to break a $20?
Responding to Beggars
31–40 of 139 posts
Re: Responding to Beggars
#32I've always made this decision based strictly on whether I am feeling generous enough in the moment to give money to a stranger who asked for it. I personally find bothering oneself about what they are going to do with it to be extremely condescending, and I sometimes suspect it might be a cop-out for simply wanting to hold on to your money. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with wanting to hold on to your o…
From the article it's pretty clear that Stallman just didn't like the feeling of being deceived. I don't think condescension has anything to do with it. As an aside: there were two instances in the last year in which I gave a stranger in need of help $20. I analyzed the interactions in the aftermath, and I'm convinced that the first person really did need help and the second person scammed me (I can't say for sure, b…
What I do now when I'm approached like this is asking them to return the money to me in some way (e.g. send it back in an envelope or sth). That way you get feedback and the whole thing turns into a fun little game of seeing how good a judge of character you are. Results for me have been abysmal so far though, but at least I've learned a lot about human nature in the process :p
Re: Responding to Beggars
#33I never give, I pay, for example I'll pay to the one who play nice music. I don't pay to soften culpability either, I handle this myself. My preferred way to fix the poverty issue is to participate in this kind of economy: I prefer giving a good salary to a nanny coming from countryside than giving random bucks to those who earned a pithy price in the streets.
Re: Responding to Beggars
#34I've always made this decision based strictly on whether I am feeling generous enough in the moment to give money to a stranger who asked for it. I personally find bothering oneself about what they are going to do with it to be extremely condescending, and I sometimes suspect it might be a cop-out for simply wanting to hold on to your money. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with wanting to hold on to your o…
From the article it's pretty clear that Stallman just didn't like the feeling of being deceived. I don't think condescension has anything to do with it. As an aside: there were two instances in the last year in which I gave a stranger in need of help $20. I analyzed the interactions in the aftermath, and I'm convinced that the first person really did need help and the second person scammed me (I can't say for sure, b…
My general feeling is that anyone who is scamming people on the streets in order to get by has real problems.
Re: Responding to Beggars
#35I give money to Shelter, a British charity which helps homeless people. I figure they're the experts, and can put the money to the best use.
Re: Responding to Beggars
#36[deleted]
Re: Responding to Beggars
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So if you pay them, it is added incentive for the gangs to put more people out on the street. I sometimes think that is just a handy excuse. I actually enjoy seeing tourists get taken advantage of, and actively encourage it with my own behaviour. I often admire go-getting capitalist tourist scams or annoying vendors - at times even illegal or immoral behaviour (people take risks because they need to, not usually ou…
I actually enjoy seeing tourists get taken advantage of, and actively encourage it with my own behaviour. Why?
Hard to explain - however I don't mean in a Schadenfreude way...
E.g. vendor selling something for 10x what a local would pay. I don't haggle much and admire chutzpah. If someone steals my wallet because that is the only income they can get, I won't like it (but I am not about to go hungry, get rickets or fail to get healthcare).
Obviously hard to delineate what is 'bad', or what are downstream effects.
Re: Responding to Beggars
#38My experience trying to get a homeless person off the street:
Available on iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/but-for-the-grace-of-god/id...
If you watch it and like it please write a review.
Re: Responding to Beggars
#39I have tried this approach for a while and not once did a beggar accept the proposal. A couple of times when I didn't have cash on me I got cursed at and since then I stopped giving to them. I should also mention that I'm from the Netherlands and no one here needs to be homeless, it's always because of drug addiction.
Re: Responding to Beggars
#40I have tried this approach for a while and not once did a beggar accept the proposal. A couple of times when I didn't have cash on me I got cursed at and since then I stopped giving to them. I should also mention that I'm from the Netherlands and no one here needs to be homeless, it's always because of drug addiction.
Or mental illness?