Residentially challenged is the new unhoused is the new homeless

in #writing2 years ago

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The only purpose this sentence serves is to start a post that I was having trouble starting up to the point when this sentence started. Thanks to that last sentence I'm well on my way to posting a post today, and I'm feeling pretty excited by the prospect of seeing it all come together. Just imagine, if it hadn't been for those last two sentences then this one never would have seen the light of day. And what good are sentences if it's too dark to read them? Good for nothing, that's what. You know what happens when you start spending too much time around good-for-nothing sentences like that? Nothing good at all, that's what. Ever since God broke the news that men love darkness because their deeds are evil, millions of tax dollars have been sunk into the effort to ban books the second some sinner goes and tries to read one in the dark. It's a huge waste of time and money but someone's got to do it, because it's not like time and money are going to just start wasting themselves now is it? Sometimes it really boggles my mind how so many otherwise functional and intelligent adults can let such obvious falsehoods get stuck in their silly little heads so long they actually spoil and start fermenting into alternative facts. There's really no other way to explain the lack of logic behind some of the bonkers ideas you run into these days; for instance, did you know that it's no longer socially acceptable or politically correct to call homeless people homeless? We have to call them unhoused now. Even though the two words are literally synonyms one is somehow better than the other. I will admit that the new and supposedly improved term does contain the element of agency, which could be construed as less likely to imply that those experiencing lack of a home are somehow at fault, but if that's the case then we'd also have to say that the old, supposedly unacceptable term is likely to imply that said persons are somehow at fault for their situation, which isn't the case. Whatever's going on with words and sentences and definitions these days, I'm calling bullshit on the entire show in general and specifically on whoever the hell let the monkeys out of the barrel and into whatever room they make decisions about language in nowadays. As a residentially challenged individual I'm highly offended—nay, aggrieved—that anyone would dare to cease calling me homeless and commence calling me unhoused instead. I will not be labeled by society. I will not be dropped into boxes based on how you understand and organize the world. And just as soon as the sun comes out and the temperature rises above freezing I will emerge from my tent and start smashing random glass and looting mom and pop shops until my voice is heard. Down with the aristocracy. Long live the revolution. Minor side note, after almost a year of not having a home to call my own I think I might have found an apartment to move into next month. Warm bed, hot shower, flushing toilet, storage, stove, refrigerator, reliable trash service—I can scarcely fathom such luxury. Incomplete sentence serving no purpose other than to conclude a post I couldn't figure out how to conclude till this incomplete sentence concluded.


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4-13-22. BREAKING—This is a sentence. But not this.

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Unhoused seems too cold. It is hardly an improvement. What if we call homeless people house-less? That way you can't assume they don't have a roof over their head, because maybe they live in an apartment, or a cave? Then we can take away the whole point of the word. In fact, let's just strike the word altogether. All dictionaries with the words homeless, unhoused, or house-less shall be burned and homeless people everywhere will rejoice at not being offended, because now all their problems are solved.

Book burnings are always a good solution to problems. And it's much cheaper than doing something that makes sense like actually providing housing to house-less persons. In all seriousness though, sweeping homeless camps is basically the modern day equivalent of burning books. I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make here, but it just strikes me as funny that people waste so much energy on getting offended by the terminology we use to describe things instead of directing that energy to actually solving problems. This is getting pretty rambly here so I think I might just be low on caffeine this morning. Coffee time.

I agree, worrying about terminology is silly. Homeless camps are a hot debate in my town, because we have a high homeless population here. Apparently it is known we are an ideal house-less location. I have mixed feelings on homeless camps because of some really negative experiences I have had with some of their members.

Pretty rambly is normal in my book, without any caffeine. More caffeine would probably backfire and make me write you a 5000 word essay as this reply. Your lack of coffee is helping us to meet in the middle:)

I get that some homeless people are probably not model citizens. Neither are a lot of people who have homes though. I guess the question comes down to why are they creating negative experiences for other humans? I'm sure there might be good reasons for laying down the law on a case by case basis. But simply rolling in with a dump truck and police escorts and robbing an entire community of their belongings is cruel and evil. I imagine the number of homeless people who deserve that treatment is pretty low. Anyway, I vote for revolution. The ruling class is to blame for our plight. I will just be over here drinking my coffee and constructing a guillotine.

rolling in with a dump truck and police escorts

Interesting. That is not something that seems to be happening around here. There is a camp in the woods a mile or so from my house that has been there undisturbed for years. Mostly what folks here complain about in regard to that camp is that it seems half the time the sheriff posts those "sex offender in our county" notices, the address is "that woods next to all those neighborhoods and that popular park where kids like to play." Fortunately we are tucked back away from a lot of that mess. I have a friend who lives close by it and saw a man from the camp snatch her little dog out of her yard. Big Dog welcomes the challenge. He likes free meat ;)

I think the dump truck and police escort approach is reserved for larger cities like New York and LA but I might be mistaken. So you mean there's a place in the woods where I could come live undisturbed? Interesting. Of course I would provide balance to the good homeless / bad homeless equation by being incredibly good. I would just point out the bad ones for Big Dog to go kill. You have mountains in Florida right?

I think you'd love it. You will have fantastic tent neighbors. There have only been a few stabbings there that I've heard of. I'm estimating that higher than 90% of the residents are either mentally ill, drug addicted, or violent criminals, so it should not be that difficult to be a shining star. They just may vote you as Camp Mayor. Who knows.

And yes, we have mountains. They just look a little smaller than what you are used to.