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Should you give money to people begging on the streets? (hexbear.net)

submitted 10 months ago by idkmybffjoeysteel@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net

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I really want an answer to this from people who are not reddit-brained libs. I have seen some good points elsewhere about this contributing to a cycle of abuse and control, causing parents to withdraw their kids from school to beg instead, etc., but if someone is desperate enough to humiliate themselves by begging on the street, shouldn't we give to them? Or should I feel bad that I did give to them?

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[–] Frank@hexbear.net 14 points 10 months ago

A lot of it is tied in to this old calvinist (of course) idea of deserving vs undeserving poor. "Undeserving poor" are poor bc they're lazy, shiftless, blah blah blah, with the underlying theological brainworms being that god doesn't love them. Deserving poor have merely been temporarily laid low by circumstance and extending them a helping hand they will return to being a productive member of society!

We've all seen the outcome - us-foreign-policy plus a lot of "leopards ate my face"/" i'm the only person who deserves help everyone else is a lying cheat"