(no subject)
"When the United States is not invading some sovereign nation - or setting it on fire from the air, which is more fun for our simple-minded pilots - we’re usually busy "declaring war" on something here at home.
Anything we don’t like about ourselves, we declare war on it. We don’t do anything about it, we just declare war. "Declaring war" is our only public metaphor for problem solving. We have a war on crime, a war on povery, a war on hate, a war on litter, a war on cancer, a war on violence, and Ronald Reagan’s ultimate joke, the war on drugs. More accurately, the war on the Constitution.
But there’s no war on homelessness. You notice that? It's because there's no money in it. If someone could end homelessness and in the process let the corporate swine steal a couple of billion dollars, you'd see the streets of America clear up pretty goddamn quickly. But it you think it's going to be solved through human decency, relax. It's not gonna happen.
You know what I think they ought to do about homelessness? Change its name. It's not homelessness, it’s houselessness. It's houses these people need. Home is an abstract idea; it's a setting, a state of mind. These people need houses. Physical, tangible structures. They need low-cost housing."
Anything we don’t like about ourselves, we declare war on it. We don’t do anything about it, we just declare war. "Declaring war" is our only public metaphor for problem solving. We have a war on crime, a war on povery, a war on hate, a war on litter, a war on cancer, a war on violence, and Ronald Reagan’s ultimate joke, the war on drugs. More accurately, the war on the Constitution.
But there’s no war on homelessness. You notice that? It's because there's no money in it. If someone could end homelessness and in the process let the corporate swine steal a couple of billion dollars, you'd see the streets of America clear up pretty goddamn quickly. But it you think it's going to be solved through human decency, relax. It's not gonna happen.
You know what I think they ought to do about homelessness? Change its name. It's not homelessness, it’s houselessness. It's houses these people need. Home is an abstract idea; it's a setting, a state of mind. These people need houses. Physical, tangible structures. They need low-cost housing."