I just flipped on to Dr. Phil (I know he's not a favorite around here, but I happened to catch the start of the show and it caught my attention). He was talking about a man who has become a millionaire by creating videos called BumFights. These videos are of homeless people doing outrageous things for a couple of bucks. This man has filmed them hitting each other with bottles, eating raw foods, and he gave one man a bottle of JD so he could film him pulling out his own teeth with pliers. This was one of the most disturbing things I have heard of. There has even been an increase in the real life beatings of homeless people (Dr. Phil believes that it has something to do with these videos....but there is nothing linking that to being true). The man who created these videos says he is doing it to bring awareness to the homeless and to give them a face in the public eye.
I was wondering not only do I feel that it is wrong to film this, and be a part of creating it, but who actually buys these videos? Enough people to make him a millionaire. I just feel like really at any point in life, any one of us have the potential to become homeless. These people who are homeless are still humans and deserve to be treated as such.
Sorry, I just had to get this out....thanks for listening.

LUNA crew

It's just like the fall of Rome

Good grief... Dr. Phil's behind... this was in the news years ago...

In the first season of "Veronica Mars" one of the characters (a high school student) was staging bum fights and acting as the bookie for other students to place bets. It is shocking and disgusting that this happens, but what shocks and disgusts me even more is that there is a huge segment of our population who don't have any support agencies to help them get to the point where they wouldn't do stuff like this for a couple of bucks.

How many people actually look at the faces of the homeless you pass every day? Most people don't, because they're afraid--afraid the person might be violent, afraid the person might ask them for money, afraid to see the face of humanity in pain.

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I just feel like really at any point in life, any one of us have the potential to become homeless. These people who are homeless are still humans and deserve to be treated as such.

Absolutely. As to who buys this stuff, I think it's the people who most fear that this could happen to them (even if the fear is hidden so deep they don't realize they harbor it). They bury their fear in laughter.

Down off my soapbox now...

Knit Wit

Speaking as a person who has loved ones out there in the unknown places we drive by each day, I am so saddened when any person is devalued. My family member the same person he was before a brother, friend, son, cousin, jsut the choices changed and the chains of them have taken his once cherished "freedom" away. He was so convinced that it is life is better on his terms but then the terms were no longer his own ....the streets are rough on the person living on them but for the family at home hoping they are alive and well it is a daily prayer and jsut knowing there is peace in believing in a greater power.....THEN this crap pops up and I want to vomit ! I have nightmares that in real life the violence that is faked on these shows ....I wonder if these things are happening for REAL ...it is a scary thing to think someone actually in encouraging these encounters. We ahve had a cousin end up dead on the streets and it is a terrible thing to hear that it ends in an alley with no one there, with violence and meanness ...NO ONE deserves this EVER !! I am NOT sure at all that Dr Phil didn't jsut do a 1 hour infomercial for these sleaze bags.....

Wow....OK .......done.....may all of us know where are loved ones are this season and always! It sucks when you don't....absolutely!
Thanks for the post...the more humanity there is in this world the better !!!! We are all OF WORTH !!!
teekasue

*getting my nomex suit and fire extinguisher*

Our local news did a story a couple of years ago about the local homeless poplulation. It turns out about 90% of them are homeless because they WANT to be. Read it again. I said 90%,that means there are still about 10% that want to do better. How do you seperate them?

I struggle just to keep up my meager standard of living but I would gladly help someone that wanted help. It really chaps me to have someone try to throw a guilt trip on me and all they want is another pack or cigarettes.

Shiloh

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It turns out about 90% of them are homeless because they WANT to be.

However, if you compare that with the mental illness rate of people who are homeless (anywhere between 20 and 33%, depending on your source), you must wonder if those individuals are genuinely "choosing" homelessness. So that takes a chunk out of the 90%.

There is also the very high co-morbidity rate of homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse (which is another form of mental illness). How many people, who have a substance abuse problem, do not feel that they can get a job/housing/whatever with their addiction, but are not able to quit. Are they choosing to be homeless?

You could also think of the percentage of individuals who either simply say or honesty believe that living on the streets is their choice, because to admit otherwise might be a blow to pride, an admission of powerlessness, etc. You have to expect that in any poll, some people will not tell you the truth.

I find the 90% a bit high.

Either way, what an interesting discussion.

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I find the 90% a bit high

OK I admit I don't remember the exact percentage ( it was two years ago) but I do remember it was over 80% because I thought THAT was high. I would expect more like 10% to be because they want to.

On a related note.My parents told me about seeing a couple get out of their car,in a parking lot with their backpacks and dog. They walked up to the stop light with their sign as if they were homeless.

Shiloh

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It really chaps me to have someone try to throw a guilt trip on me and all they want is another pack or cigarettes.

In our areas the people you see bumming for money are not the homeless. They are those that make a tidy sum panhandling. Which is illegal by the way. In our town their is a men's shelter and an abused women's shelter. We also have a VA hospital that has apartments for veterans.

No reason in our town for being homeless on the streets. Those that really need help are those struggling to get by while working multiple jobs.

There are short term solutions like shelters, family outreach, social service outreach, and so on. But the real fix comes from exploring the histories of the homeless and tackling the problems through research/action or legislation/action. Identify how people become homeless: There are some big causal areas --mental illness-no diagnosis/mental illness-refused meds, addiction/duel , run-a-way, low employment/education/unskilled. While I understand the study (85%-15%) I also understand that in human behavior, there is almost always payoff for why people do what they do. Every individual who elects to stay on the street has a reason for not "coming in from the cold" Some don't like rules, some are afraid of confinement, some can't believe they deserve a better life, and some don't want to take their meds.

We know so much more about the brain than we did twenty years ago--more about disease too. This is where our energy needs to go. If the biggest problem is Addiction (the cost to society is enormous) we have to commit resources to it in a focused way to get that problem solved. I think we'll soon see that kind of initiative. Neuroscience is makeing inroads into the basis of mental illnes- Now, to loosely quote my son, why can't we harness the addiction mechanism to motivate folks to take the medicine that improves their brain chemistry????

Stop.

The truth is, in urban areas, there are sufficient resources for anyone who does not wish to be homeless. Shelters, churches, soup kitchens, the Department of Human Resources, Public Assistance..the list is long.

You have to be willing to do two things. Follow directions and swalllow your pride awhile.

If you aren't willing to do that, then sympathy isn't yours.

Drug addiction? The county hospital will house you, wean you, help you find a job. Alcohol? Salvation Army wants *you*. Abusive spouse/parent? Social services advertise constantly trying to find you.

Yes, any one of us could be in a position to have to use these resources. We're all just a step away from struggle and humiliation. No, no one has to go to bed hungry in America. Yes, folks who terrorize and victimize the unfortunate ought to be forced to endure terrible punishments. Yes, I'm afraid of the street folk. If they can't care enough to feed themselves, how can I expect they'll care enough not to hurt me?

thank you.

Shiloh

"I was wondering not only do I feel that it is wrong to film this, and be a part of creating it, but who actually buys these videos? Enough people to make him a millionaire. I just feel like really at any point in life, any one of us have the potential to become homeless. These people who are homeless are still humans and deserve to be treated as such."

Whoa, you must not spend much time around college boys. I live in a college town, and I could imagine any one of the frat guys I know filming, buying, and encouraging such films.
Heck, I bet a good percentage of them would do the same stuff for a couple of bucks, and they're not even homeless. They just think it's fun to film each other doing dumb sh••.

"Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors Him. The wicked is overthrown through his evildoing, but the righteous finds refuge even in his death." (Pro.14:31-32)

There is hope.

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You have to be willing to do two things. Follow directions and swalllow your pride awhile.

If you aren't willing to do that, then sympathy isn't yours.

I have to respectfully disagree on this, because I believe that the bulk of people living on the street suffer from mental illness. One of my family's close friends as I was growing up suffered horribly from mental illness. When things were going well, she was a delightful woman, loving mother, who had a great education and a beautiful family. And then. Then, she would slip into mental illness and become another person. Confused, irrational, frightening. And most importantly, in terms of this discussion, totally unaware that anything was wrong. She thought it was totally normal to take a knife and laboriously hack the living room carpet into ragged bits.

Had she not had a very loving, patient and stubborn husband, I imagine that this woman could have ended becoming a "lost soul," and possibly ending up on the streets.

The rise of homelessness in America corresponds to the Regan-era defunding of mental hospitals and the support networks that these hospitals fostered.

I also think that the many people with low skills and low paying jobs are just one major crisis away from homelessnes. A fascinating book on the subject of the Working Poor in America is:

http://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Dimed-Not-Getting-America/dp/0805063897

Social service organizations tend to be stretched to the limit. Perhaps, at this time of year, which can be so joyful for some, but so stressful and emotionally charged for others, a donation to a local church-based soup kitchen, or a hospital, or a shelter for battered women and children might be a good thing. We can blame the homleless for being undisciplined, but I don't think that helps anyone.

Lisascenic, your words are eloquent, haunting, and so sadly true. Those of us working in the public schools are reminded daily that increasing numbers of our children are homeless as well.
Thank you,
CCLB

I actually bought this video 3 years ago when it came out. It did make me laugh, and I have heard interviews since with the maker of the film, and 2 of the bums in it "Roofus, and Bling-Bling"...They actually made money from the film as well, as the maker did give them some royalties..so it wasnt a complete loss. I wanna say one of the guys used the money to get himself help.

The main 3 bums in the movie are all addicts.....2 alcohol, and one crack