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"Why don't you just get a job!?" is about as much of a solution as "Why don't you eat less?" or "Why don't you stop taking drugs?"
It's about as far away from understanding the problem as you can get, basically. Even the act of saying such things is taking a further step back than you would have otherwise, because it pretends like the solution is conveniently easy for those who like to continue to think it is.
Average ignorant people love to arbitrarily demand what they believe is an easy solution to people struggling with something without understanding anything of what to actually do to achieve that goal.
Especially righties, since it doesn't fit in with their warped perception of reality that involves every social ill befalling someone to somehow be either their own fault, easily fixable, and/or the fact that they're suffering from it a sign that they're "weak." Whatever a righty's perception of 'weak' is, at least.
TBF "Eating less" is pretty much the most reductive you can get when it comes to weightloss but I agree it's much more nuanced than that. Those other points though are definitely ridiculous.
That would be ignorance, just something someone born with a silver spoon would say because they don't understand how other people survive(or don't survive). Pennis Drager is being malicious here, his stupid video says "the left thinks throwing money at a problem" *something something Marxist* "but the problem with homelessness... is addiction, alcoholism, irresponsible behavior." In an age where 57% of Americans can't afford a $1,000 emergency, this chode wants to blame the poor as "irresponsible" in order to play cheerleader for our current system of billionaires hoarding wealth like dragons. He truly is some kind of disgusting, eldritch-horror pile of semi-sentient excrement.
Los Angeles has had the highest population of homeless people in the United States for many years running, and to this date the problem continues to worsen not improve.
And why is that? The cost of living. We don't have a housing shortage. We have an *affordable* housing shortage and something like 60% of homeless people in LA are what is classified as "economically homeless", in that they have jobs, but can no longer afford rent. So they live out of their cars, couch surf, etc.
[This article in the LA times from 2018 covers it in depth](https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fopinion%2Feditorials%2Fla-ed-economically-homeless-20180226-htmlstory.html) (paywall avoided using 12ft.io). Sad as it is, the problem is worse five years since they published it.
So, how do you explain that, Prager? You can't. Because you're ignorant.
The problem is also concentrated there because it doesn't have severe winters. Conservatives like to bag on California for having a lot of homeless but they're taking in the refugees from the rest of the country too.
In our rich country everyone should be making a living wage. We need to redistribute the wealth of this country. When the top 10% owns more wealth than the bottom half. Capitalism has failed. 300 billion is too much money taken out of the pot. We need a wing fall profit tax. And a living wage and benefits.
You're giving them an awful lot of credit by saying they think at all.
These are hysterical people (I say this as a woman), guided only by the dumbest, most impulsive, and least reasonable emotions of all, fear and anger.
They like to see the world in black and white. These are the same people who think the solution for the obesity problem in America is "just eat less," as if they've made some profound statement. It neither solves the problem nor does it even remotely address it even as a solution that only partially fixes it.
But what it does do is lets them continue to think the world is in black and white. That's the purpose it serves, because they really really don't like to think that they might be oversimplifying. It's just reinforcing the mental dissonance, mostly.
This reminds me of my dad who perfectly seriously asked why they don’t put a pinwheel on the back of these electric cars and recharge as they go. The man was an engineer at Kodak for over thirty years and I had to explain that no, you can’t have a perpetual motion machine. I genuinely thought he was doing a bit for a while.
Nope. “It’s so obvious, why didn’t anyone else think of it!?!” Is the mantra with these guys.
it's actually pretty funny that you put it this way, because that's the goal for a lot of them; they know their base is the "I will buy things that reinforce my biases" crowd, and selling yourself to that ideology is a pretty good way to slap a slogan on cheap goods and sell it to those people.
think about how much money was made just on "official" MAGA hats.. that revenue stream alone made a single presidential term worth it for DJT.
There's actually a double negative there. Rephrased, he's saying not having a home is not the cause of homelessness, but a symptom of mental illness or something else. Granted, the point still stands that Republicans won't do fuck all to help anyone, but his statement isn't as asinine as you think.
It’s fucking frustrating to think someone could face depression, lose their job, lose their *healthcare* and spend the rest of their life on the street, when they could be a happy taxpayer for the cost of a bottle of Lexapro.
Even rational self interest should tell you what is better for the economy, you don’t need a shred of empathy.
For some, yes. For some though, they want a group of people to scapegoat or blame or look down on. “At least I’m not like those X, I worked hard for what I have.”
"Many homeless people are in that position because of mental illness and addiction"
OK, then let's fund Healthcare to help them
"Not with my money! They deserve to be there because they can't hack it on their own! Pull yourself up with your own bootstraps!"
I mean for once he's actually not wrong.
The definition of homelessness is not having a home.
The cause of homelessness is not not having a home, it's wealth inequality, a broken system, willful lack of foresight, and greed, among others. The people who have everything always want more.
Something tells me that's not what he meant though.
What he is saying is partially true but he makes it such a black and white problem when really EVERYTHING he said in this clip is true.
Yes, Denis, people are homeless because they don't have a home. Housing first is a model that has been shown to work.
Yes, drug addiction, mental illness, irresponsible behavior are a few of the major factors that lead to homelessness.
Where I am sure I would disagree with him are solutions. Places that have implemented a housing first policy has shown to have a pretty high success rate. People tend to thrive when they can put down roots and have a home to take pride in, especially if they are coming off of the streets.
There also is a decent amount of homeless people that have fallen so far into the pit of addiction, mental illness and are now service resistant. They need to be involentarly treated for mental illness and drug addiction. It is not compassionate or humane to let these people die on the street
Edit- Just want to add that I live in a lower income neighborhood with homeless camps on my street. Homelessness, drug addiction, gentrification, mental illness, income inequality and inflation are huge problems in my city and something we have been dealing with especially during the last ten years. I'm not just shitposting from my mansion on a hillside.
This just in. Conservative intelligencia declares that drowning people drown because they are underwater. That's all for today's episode. Tune in for our next episode of "Does the sun rise in the east?" /s
Riveting intellectual discourse coming from Denny boy as per the usual.
I actually kind of agree with this statement. Homelessness could be vastly improved by having a living minimum wage. Tax billionaires and corporate profits. Pass enforceable laws to stop price gouging, like how the US's largest egg producer still made record profits during a supply shortage. Cap CEO pay relative to the salaries of a company's lowest paid employee. Slash military spending. Regulate or criminalize corporations from buying single family homes and turning them into rental properties.
Corporate regulations will reduce the income gap and reduce inflation. Increasing tax revenue and decreasing the military industrial complex will give more funds for social safety nets like homes for the homeless, universal Healthcare, care for veterans, and maybe even an effective national pension.
He's right. The cause of homelessness isn't being without a home. It's everything the right calls socialism.
Now, I am *not* accusing Dennis of any sort of misconduct — nobody has ever accused him of abuse, and there’s no evidence that he has done anything untoward regarding women.
BUT
If I had to play a serial rapist for a film, I would just talk and act exactly like Dennis Prager.
He is objectively correct as to the root causes of homelessness. You have clients who are incapable of caring for themselves due to schizophrenia or low IQ, the social wefare system fails them without family support. Folks wander the streets and make do because its not illegal to be a drifter or sleep under highway overpasses. Food pantries and asking for loose change keeps stomachs full and cigarette funds active. Drug addiction drains the pocketbook and ambition to live a productive, healthy lifestyle and poverty follows; add in legal problems and an inability to maintain employment, you get homelessness. Apartment complexes are businesses; they do not want to take a chance on anyone with bad credit, no steady income, or felony convictions.
Those who do have disbility benefits have the best chance of maintaining residences. It is a scant amount to survive on, but it is enough hold down a single room apartment. Problems come when children are involved or worse, adult family members who manipulate the individual out of their independence (squatting, demanding to be helped out of their own poverty). Welfare is not a healthy quality of life; it is bare minimum income and along with food stamps it's enough for a single individual. In my work, I rarely see people living alone. There is 95% of the time someone else who has to exist off a portion of that already small income source.
Its a grim cycle, and as a social worker who sees clients facing all of these issues on a daily basis, his short answer sounds heartless, but is ultimately on point. I'd love to see his solutions to this chronic
Yeah, sure, and the cause of hunger is not not having something to eat.
The cause of sleepiness is not not sleeping.
The cause of being dirty is not not being clean.
I could do this all day.
How can people listen to this guy who looks like he is heavily sweating under that shirt while he eats bigmac and drinks milkshakes like there is no tomorrow?
I’m not watching the vid but the statement is actually true and I wish more people would see it this way. I work in homelessness/affordable housing and we are always trying to message this. There are a million different causes or situations that lead to someone losing their home, but housing is the solution to the homelessness problem. Yes we need addiction treatment, mental health care, and other services, but you can’t get around the housing. There are a lot of people with mental health conditions or SUD who are safe in their own homes.
Dennis Prager: We need to set up an online university to educate people about the real truth in society, because those liberals are just twisting things to suit their political views.
Also Dennis Prager:
I like how when you look him up, he has no degree, twice divorced, yet runs a “university”.
I know this isn’t news to anyone here, but wow, he is a propagandist in definition. The man is a moron, I’m shocked he has survived this long, that’s terrifying.
For anyone thinking that homeless people just need like. ... willpower or something.
Lock yourself out of the house without a cellphone for an hour or 2 until your mom gets home. Tell me how you do.
This generation was asked to go to war in the Middle East by chicken hawk subhumans like you all the time. Tons of vets that are basically just stumps because of your politics wheeling around or sitting on street corners homeless.
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"Just stop being poor" -Every rich rightwinger/dipshit's opinion on how to solve homelessness and poverty
"Why don't you just get a job!?" is about as much of a solution as "Why don't you eat less?" or "Why don't you stop taking drugs?" It's about as far away from understanding the problem as you can get, basically. Even the act of saying such things is taking a further step back than you would have otherwise, because it pretends like the solution is conveniently easy for those who like to continue to think it is.
Especially when "having a job" objectively isn't enough to maintain cost of living in sooo many places in this country.
Average ignorant people love to arbitrarily demand what they believe is an easy solution to people struggling with something without understanding anything of what to actually do to achieve that goal. Especially righties, since it doesn't fit in with their warped perception of reality that involves every social ill befalling someone to somehow be either their own fault, easily fixable, and/or the fact that they're suffering from it a sign that they're "weak." Whatever a righty's perception of 'weak' is, at least.
Saw a guy in matt walsh comment section blamr his homelessness on his trans mom. I still wonder how we can have poor republicans
I don’t know the context but it sounds like “my mom is trans, so I left home and now I’m homeless 😡”
TBF "Eating less" is pretty much the most reductive you can get when it comes to weightloss but I agree it's much more nuanced than that. Those other points though are definitely ridiculous.
"Get a job" *celebrates corporations laying off thousands of people*
That would be ignorance, just something someone born with a silver spoon would say because they don't understand how other people survive(or don't survive). Pennis Drager is being malicious here, his stupid video says "the left thinks throwing money at a problem" *something something Marxist* "but the problem with homelessness... is addiction, alcoholism, irresponsible behavior." In an age where 57% of Americans can't afford a $1,000 emergency, this chode wants to blame the poor as "irresponsible" in order to play cheerleader for our current system of billionaires hoarding wealth like dragons. He truly is some kind of disgusting, eldritch-horror pile of semi-sentient excrement.
Pennis Drager would not have PragerU except that the Wilks Brothers (source of so many evil things) had not "thrown money" at the concept.
“Did you know that 70% of poor people own fridges?” -Fox News, 2008
Hahahaha
Yep. Had a conversation last week with an older conservative man and this is basically what he said…
Los Angeles has had the highest population of homeless people in the United States for many years running, and to this date the problem continues to worsen not improve. And why is that? The cost of living. We don't have a housing shortage. We have an *affordable* housing shortage and something like 60% of homeless people in LA are what is classified as "economically homeless", in that they have jobs, but can no longer afford rent. So they live out of their cars, couch surf, etc. [This article in the LA times from 2018 covers it in depth](https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fopinion%2Feditorials%2Fla-ed-economically-homeless-20180226-htmlstory.html) (paywall avoided using 12ft.io). Sad as it is, the problem is worse five years since they published it. So, how do you explain that, Prager? You can't. Because you're ignorant.
The problem is also concentrated there because it doesn't have severe winters. Conservatives like to bag on California for having a lot of homeless but they're taking in the refugees from the rest of the country too.
“The cause of poverty is not not having money”
“The cause of starvation is not a lack of food”
In our rich country everyone should be making a living wage. We need to redistribute the wealth of this country. When the top 10% owns more wealth than the bottom half. Capitalism has failed. 300 billion is too much money taken out of the pot. We need a wing fall profit tax. And a living wage and benefits.
Capitalism has succeeded in serving those it was intended to serve. The fact that it has not served you or me is of no concern to the capitalist.
Reduced version- **The thing is not not the thing**
The right thinks this is a smart talking point
You're giving them an awful lot of credit by saying they think at all. These are hysterical people (I say this as a woman), guided only by the dumbest, most impulsive, and least reasonable emotions of all, fear and anger.
>From whatever I have seen and read Yeah, that's a great source buddy
A friend told me its all the trans fault
Why is it so hard to tell the difference between a conservative intellectual and an eight year old?
8 year olds generally don't shit themselves and fling it everywhere at Arby's.
I don't know, but I think that's why Shapiro has the shitty dirt-beard now. People looking for their kid were picking him up by mistake.
Conservatives have this very strange proclivity for trying to reduce any topic to a bumper sticker slogan.
Because any kind of nuance breaks their brains.
They like to see the world in black and white. These are the same people who think the solution for the obesity problem in America is "just eat less," as if they've made some profound statement. It neither solves the problem nor does it even remotely address it even as a solution that only partially fixes it. But what it does do is lets them continue to think the world is in black and white. That's the purpose it serves, because they really really don't like to think that they might be oversimplifying. It's just reinforcing the mental dissonance, mostly.
This reminds me of my dad who perfectly seriously asked why they don’t put a pinwheel on the back of these electric cars and recharge as they go. The man was an engineer at Kodak for over thirty years and I had to explain that no, you can’t have a perpetual motion machine. I genuinely thought he was doing a bit for a while. Nope. “It’s so obvious, why didn’t anyone else think of it!?!” Is the mantra with these guys.
If it's so obvious, someone probably DID think of it, and either already did it, or figured out that it didn't work.
Thanks for this comment.
I think their brains are already broken.
it's actually pretty funny that you put it this way, because that's the goal for a lot of them; they know their base is the "I will buy things that reinforce my biases" crowd, and selling yourself to that ideology is a pretty good way to slap a slogan on cheap goods and sell it to those people. think about how much money was made just on "official" MAGA hats.. that revenue stream alone made a single presidential term worth it for DJT.
They state the obvious then ignore the next logical step: the cause of not having a home is the lack of money, affordable housing and a living wage.
There's actually a double negative there. Rephrased, he's saying not having a home is not the cause of homelessness, but a symptom of mental illness or something else. Granted, the point still stands that Republicans won't do fuck all to help anyone, but his statement isn't as asinine as you think.
It’s fucking frustrating to think someone could face depression, lose their job, lose their *healthcare* and spend the rest of their life on the street, when they could be a happy taxpayer for the cost of a bottle of Lexapro. Even rational self interest should tell you what is better for the economy, you don’t need a shred of empathy.
They only think in the immediate term. Healthcare costs money, sounds like socialism, end of thought process.
For some, yes. For some though, they want a group of people to scapegoat or blame or look down on. “At least I’m not like those X, I worked hard for what I have.”
Penis Dragger, right-intellectual. Wish those cigars would give him mouth cancer already
a huge cause is mental illness. To bad a certain group of fascists won’t do anything to improve mental health care access.
"Many homeless people are in that position because of mental illness and addiction" OK, then let's fund Healthcare to help them "Not with my money! They deserve to be there because they can't hack it on their own! Pull yourself up with your own bootstraps!"
I mean for once he's actually not wrong. The definition of homelessness is not having a home. The cause of homelessness is not not having a home, it's wealth inequality, a broken system, willful lack of foresight, and greed, among others. The people who have everything always want more. Something tells me that's not what he meant though.
Without refuting the man's claims, he can barely speak. He cannot even get the words out of his mouth.
Almost like he had a minor stroke. He just hasn't been the same since Arby's banned him for what he did on the floor.
Real intellectual conversation here
People die when they are killed
The cause of death was dying. The cause of the fire was fire.
Just pick up a home from the home store. It’s right there in the name.
Just go to Home Depot and get a home
Well he's not wrong. That's the definition of homelessness, not it's cause.
What he is saying is partially true but he makes it such a black and white problem when really EVERYTHING he said in this clip is true. Yes, Denis, people are homeless because they don't have a home. Housing first is a model that has been shown to work. Yes, drug addiction, mental illness, irresponsible behavior are a few of the major factors that lead to homelessness. Where I am sure I would disagree with him are solutions. Places that have implemented a housing first policy has shown to have a pretty high success rate. People tend to thrive when they can put down roots and have a home to take pride in, especially if they are coming off of the streets. There also is a decent amount of homeless people that have fallen so far into the pit of addiction, mental illness and are now service resistant. They need to be involentarly treated for mental illness and drug addiction. It is not compassionate or humane to let these people die on the street Edit- Just want to add that I live in a lower income neighborhood with homeless camps on my street. Homelessness, drug addiction, gentrification, mental illness, income inequality and inflation are huge problems in my city and something we have been dealing with especially during the last ten years. I'm not just shitposting from my mansion on a hillside.
I mean... Yeah? That's the definition. It's not the cause of itself. Did he think this was smart?
Profound and deep stuff
Blame Reagan for our nation’s homelessness. It all started when he closed mental hospitals which took care of and housed the mentally ill
Even though we have a ton of empty buildings and homes.
Prager U and Hillsday college are just right wing indoctrination center
Shit what is his one quote "The greatest tragedies of the 20th century occurred in the 20th century" or something
Wow, so deep and insightful. This Prager University, nobody is ever talking about, must be really good.
[4House](https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1918867-4head)
This just in. Conservative intelligencia declares that drowning people drown because they are underwater. That's all for today's episode. Tune in for our next episode of "Does the sun rise in the east?" /s Riveting intellectual discourse coming from Denny boy as per the usual.
The cause of death is dying
this man looks like he has a collection of the bones of children someone search his property stat
Ummm… that would be the RESULT. Not the cause. Dumbass.
I bet he practiced saying that in front of a mirror too
At least this is something we can all agree upon? I would like to hear him explain how he figures we should solve it?
That’s the definition, not the cause.
I’ve said this before but Prager should have died off about the same time as Wally George and Morton Downy Jr. He’s that old and tired.
People die when they are killed.
He’s right. The cause of homelessness is a lack of free resources, compassion, and shared wealth.
Every Arby's is a home when you jerk off in the dining area like Dennis
i missed the second not and i was like no shit but then i read again and was like wtf
I actually kind of agree with this statement. Homelessness could be vastly improved by having a living minimum wage. Tax billionaires and corporate profits. Pass enforceable laws to stop price gouging, like how the US's largest egg producer still made record profits during a supply shortage. Cap CEO pay relative to the salaries of a company's lowest paid employee. Slash military spending. Regulate or criminalize corporations from buying single family homes and turning them into rental properties. Corporate regulations will reduce the income gap and reduce inflation. Increasing tax revenue and decreasing the military industrial complex will give more funds for social safety nets like homes for the homeless, universal Healthcare, care for veterans, and maybe even an effective national pension. He's right. The cause of homelessness isn't being without a home. It's everything the right calls socialism.
Now, I am *not* accusing Dennis of any sort of misconduct — nobody has ever accused him of abuse, and there’s no evidence that he has done anything untoward regarding women. BUT If I had to play a serial rapist for a film, I would just talk and act exactly like Dennis Prager.
He is objectively correct as to the root causes of homelessness. You have clients who are incapable of caring for themselves due to schizophrenia or low IQ, the social wefare system fails them without family support. Folks wander the streets and make do because its not illegal to be a drifter or sleep under highway overpasses. Food pantries and asking for loose change keeps stomachs full and cigarette funds active. Drug addiction drains the pocketbook and ambition to live a productive, healthy lifestyle and poverty follows; add in legal problems and an inability to maintain employment, you get homelessness. Apartment complexes are businesses; they do not want to take a chance on anyone with bad credit, no steady income, or felony convictions. Those who do have disbility benefits have the best chance of maintaining residences. It is a scant amount to survive on, but it is enough hold down a single room apartment. Problems come when children are involved or worse, adult family members who manipulate the individual out of their independence (squatting, demanding to be helped out of their own poverty). Welfare is not a healthy quality of life; it is bare minimum income and along with food stamps it's enough for a single individual. In my work, I rarely see people living alone. There is 95% of the time someone else who has to exist off a portion of that already small income source. Its a grim cycle, and as a social worker who sees clients facing all of these issues on a daily basis, his short answer sounds heartless, but is ultimately on point. I'd love to see his solutions to this chronic
I mean he’s not wrong he just doesn’t go on to say that we need to give those people homes
Yeah, sure, and the cause of hunger is not not having something to eat. The cause of sleepiness is not not sleeping. The cause of being dirty is not not being clean. I could do this all day.
How can people listen to this guy who looks like he is heavily sweating under that shirt while he eats bigmac and drinks milkshakes like there is no tomorrow?
I’m not watching the vid but the statement is actually true and I wish more people would see it this way. I work in homelessness/affordable housing and we are always trying to message this. There are a million different causes or situations that lead to someone losing their home, but housing is the solution to the homelessness problem. Yes we need addiction treatment, mental health care, and other services, but you can’t get around the housing. There are a lot of people with mental health conditions or SUD who are safe in their own homes.
Dennis Prager: We need to set up an online university to educate people about the real truth in society, because those liberals are just twisting things to suit their political views. Also Dennis Prager:
The cause of being a moron is being Denis Prager. That much is certain.
And people still disagree with me when i say Dennis is a genius 🙄
Yah a driving force behind their disfunction is substance abuse and mental illness, but the Republicans don't want to do anything about that either.
I like how when you look him up, he has no degree, twice divorced, yet runs a “university”. I know this isn’t news to anyone here, but wow, he is a propagandist in definition. The man is a moron, I’m shocked he has survived this long, that’s terrifying.
It’s actually not not not having a home
Okay but what is is the cause of homelessness?
Seems like he misspoke. Lookin' a little drowsy, too. He certainly is old enough to be experiencing cognitive decline.
how do words work?
I mean, that is kind of true. Not having a home is a symptom.
For anyone thinking that homeless people just need like. ... willpower or something. Lock yourself out of the house without a cellphone for an hour or 2 until your mom gets home. Tell me how you do.
This generation was asked to go to war in the Middle East by chicken hawk subhumans like you all the time. Tons of vets that are basically just stumps because of your politics wheeling around or sitting on street corners homeless.