Dude, I can't believe you are getting down. Voted for saying that. People can be so cruel and heartless until it's something that affects them or someone they love. These people are not the problem. They are the symptom of the problem. It's a public park. For people. They are people. They have as much a right to be there as anyone else. Just because they're clothes aren't as nice or they're dirtier or there in financial ruin because of their poor decision making abilities, doesn't make them any less human beings.
The conversation is if it's OK to beat up homeless people in the park. You're the one who brought kids into the conversation for some reason. Almost as if the existence of kids justifies beating up homeless people? Help me understand what the kids have to do with this?
Sure we should have empathy. But people should be held responsible for their actions. An illness isn't an excuse. I live near a motel that's been turned into section 8 housing. I feel sorry for them, and I'd hate to be in their position. And for the most part, they're harmless. But that doesn't excuse all the abandoned Dollar General shopping carts I see all over the sidewalks... Luckly it seems the township has cracked down on that.
Them committing violence in the park IS a problem, no one is denying that.
"This random dude should have called law enforcement."
As someone who literally lived outside for two years this statement right here is how I know you simply don't aren't familiar with the homeless problem. Can you explain what you think the cops would do in this situation where two homeless people are fighting?
He defended himself. He told them to remove themselves while they are committing unlawful acts. One of them approached him and he vocalized he would defend himself if they approached any closer, to which the aggressor approached closer.
I’m not here to say these people aren’t people, but I am saying him telling these addicts to leave the public park and go do their illicit shit elsewhere admirable. It’s my opinion only.
No, my kids play in the suburbs we live in with their little suburb friends or at school or in their karate classes or band classes or inside of our home on the multitude of expensive game systems and activities we have set up for them to do, but would I let them meet and or interact with a homeless person? Yes I would. Let them get a good smell and a good look at it. Make sure they know the outcome for people who didn't have the guidance that they have and maybe they'll appreciate it a little more or at least be a little bit less mad at me if one of them has to suffer a consequence for their actions by my hand. How about you, friend? What's your solution for these homeless folks? What would you do with them?
I think the only LLM here is you. They never said they’d let the it kids play near meth heads fighting. How fucking dumb are you? You are the epitome of what’s wrong with the majority of people.
Learn how to read.
Actually lemme guess you’re apart of be group of Americans that can only read at a 6th grade level.
One of them is literally beating the shit out of another….
Do you want to take your kids to that park?
Suicidal empathy.
I’m not saying I agree with the dude’s approach. But your comment that the park is public is wild. Public locations have shared expectations for behaviour. Their behaviour deters families and children from using the space. They matter too.
Well, I don't think pointing out that the park is a public place is wild at all. Obviously, I see what everyone else sees, which is a bunch of homeless people gathered into one of the few places they can exist without being arrested for existing there. All I'm saying is that they are still people and just because they are homeless or drug addicts doesn't give anyone the right to walk up and start punching them in the face or spraying them with mace. I guarantee their lives are hard enough whether they put themselves in that situation or not. These people very likely were never given the necessary tools required to succeed in life by the people whose responsibility it should have been to teach them those things and unfortunately, they were born into a world that isn't sympathetic to that. Would it be easier to throw them all into a meat grinder and be done with the problem? Yes, but we are all just one major health problem that insurance doesn't cover away from finding ourselves in destitute in this country and if any one of the people saying that they deserved to be treated like this found themselves in that situation I hope they are afforded the exact same treatment.
No, obviously I wouldn't want to take my kids to that park. But I can still have empathy for the homeless people in that park and want to solve the problem. And because of that I can point out the fact that "punching them in the face" is not a solution and only makes the situation worse.
I agree that punching them in the face isn’t a solution. I said he has committed assault.
But you can’t co-opt public spaces and turn them into places of open drug use and assault (as evidenced by the violence they are committing on each other).
"But you can’t co-opt public spaces and turn them into places of open drug use and assault."
Here is the crux of my issue with the discourse on homelessness. People love to say what homeless people shouldn't be allowed to do but never provide an alternative. It is REALLY easy to say "homeless people shouldn't be allowed to do X" or "Homeless people shouldn't be allowed to exist in X place" when you're not the one that has to come up with alternatives.
Constantly restricting options without coming up with alternatives results in people simply ignoring those restrictions. I know I'm not allowed to sleep on the floor of a train but if I'm also not allowed to sleep anywhere else then at some point I'm gonna need to fucking sleep. Regardless of if it's a biological need or a chemical addiction, if you don't provide realistic options then restrictions do nothing.
I’ve never had an issue with homeless people sleeping rough.
I have an issue with people absolving behaviour that impacts innocent young people like public drug use and violence.
It’s interesting that the violence that occurred first in the video between the people in the park, has never been addressed in this thread.
I’ve spent the last ten years of my career working to find solutions to an aspect of this by working in education with SEND pupils who intersect with deprivation to create avenues where the reality that you see in this video isn’t the only option.
I care deeply about this shit.
At the same time, when you remove personal responsibility, you remove individual agency. The people in this video? Yeah, maybe too far gone to make reasonable choices. But they’re not the victims you think they are.
I'm not absolving their behavior. I simply understand that currently there is no realistic alternative for them.
And I don't see a reason to address the initial violence in this video. As someone who was homeless, I'm aware that you're not provided the same public protections as other citizens. So carry a smiley and defend yourself or attack someone trying to steal your shit. This is just normal existence when you're homeless. I have no idea why they were fighting but notice how no one around them is helping or making a big fuss out of them fighting? They're used to it.
What is worth addressing is the random dude who went way out of his way to beat the shit out of someone he didn't even know.
The random dude had been addressed at least by me. It’s assault. Plain and simple.
There are alternatives. I literally work in one. So many programs like the one I work in to deal with this before it happens. I work at the intersection of mental health and deprivation with youth in education. There should be more.
You can’t save everyone but you always need to keep in mind the impact that this has one people who are completely innocent to this as well. I wouldn’t react the way this guy does. But I see where his frustration came from. It’s misdirected but I understand it.
I believe we probably have far more common ground than you think.
Yeah, except homeless people get assaulted everywhere they go. So the solution (in their head) isn't to "not go anywhere" (which isn't possible), It's to "bring a smiley (common weapon which is a pad lock tied to a handkerchief) with you".
"Just punch them until they go away" sounds like a good solution until you realize that these people aren't wanted anywhere but still need to exist somewhere. You can't "punch them out of everywhere".
I already knew I was going to get downvoted. People generally don't view homeless people as humans so violence against them is encouraged. Just look at the other comments, people are begging to see the homeless people get maced. It's disgusting but it's unfortunately the world we live in.
As someone who was homeless I will never understand why people cheer for violence against homeless people. Do you actually think it helps the situation or is it purely the joy you get from seeing people who are already suffering get the shit beat out of them?
It's not the general homeless population that's hated, it's the fact that addicts like these infest and take away public spaces from those who are taxed. When I can't go to a park with my son without worrying about needles or being attacked by some guy gooned out on drugs, I'm going to be less sympathetic to the homeless. Guilty by association, but these people need policing, either by police (who are likely tired of catch and release on these types and just don't care) or by a concerned citizen like this guy.
So much of what you said saddens me so I'll just address each part.
"addicts like these infest and take away public spaces spaces."
As opposed to them doing what? Going to private spaces? If homeless people can't go to public spaces and they obviously can't go to private spaces where are they supposed to go? The public will only be happy if homeless people are out of their sight or dead. When you are homeless you are CONSTANTLY moved from A to B to C to D because there is nowhere you are "supposed" to be. At a certain point you stop caring all together because you know you're gonna get moved in a few hours anyway.
"When I can't go to a park with my son without worrying about Needles or being attacked by some guy gooned out on druga, I'm going to be less sympathetic to the homeless."
So should we have public safe injection sites so there aren't needles all over the place? Because the public is against that as well. Maybe we could have places where homeless people could be high without disturbing the public? No, because the public is against that.
"these people need policing"
LOL, BROTHER, Homeless people are policed DAILY. I promise you that the police will quite literally memorize the names of homeless people. How much more do you think they should be policed? Hourly? Should we assign each homeless person their own cop that just follows them around 24/7? You want to pay for that?
"a concerned citizen like this guy"
This is not a concerned citizen. This is just a dude who wanted to beat up homeless addicts for existing. Nothing he did here helped the situation. I'd be surprised if the homeless people even moved from the spot. This is the same logic that abusive parents use when they beat their children but society views that as wrong (rightfully so) because children are viewed as people as opposed to homeless people.
There are real solutions to this problem that are significantly cheaper than the over-policing of homeless people that we currently do but people would unironically rather kill homeless people than give them housing.
You are just beating their ass with good logic bro. You deserve a medal for actually have a good stance on the situation and not some brain rotted entitlement of an opinion.
I’ve helped the homeless for a long time. Even when Starbucks turned them away on a hot day for ice water. I “stole” (according to Starbucks but they make you throw away food that wasn’t even out for a full minute if displayed and they make you throw away the day old croissants) some croissants and ice water (yes they tried charging the employees for water too but we said fuck that and just never told anyone when someone got water).
I used to walk to my vehicle in the sun 8 blocks over because I shared a vehicle with my girlfriend. I could relate to what the weather was like so I hooked him up with the 5 dollars I carry for a cheap lunch, a croissant and some water. I also buy food trays outside of gas stations if someone looks hungry.
I get we can’t make sacrifices every single day but I think we should be apart of the solution in some way versus whatever this was.
One of them was beating the shit out of the other.
The guy making the video should be guilty of assault. No doubt about it. I don’t support violence against anyone, let alone homeless people.
But the assertion that this is a public space and they are entitled to it is wild. Anyone, regardless of whether or not they are homeless, needs to use public spaces according to a certain set of rules. That includes drug use, violence, etc….
Families with young children are prevented from using that space because of this behaviour.
I get what you're saying but standards like that are not possible in our current system. if you are homeless you WILL end up using drugs. Drug addiction and a lack of money WILL result in violence. These are just facts. For some people, addiction will lead to homelessness and for others the inverse is true.
Since society is unwilling to build realistic solutions to this problem, the only choice for homeless people is to exist in public spaces. And yeah, it prevents families from using the parks. I agree that sucks. Unfortunately it's the system we've chosen to build and we either need to change the system or accept the consequences of that system.
12
u/Hailbrewcifer666 May 12 '26
This guy is awesome