I want
Posted by unbrand on 9 November 2002 | 0 Comments
What to write in a week in that American politics made an almost complete shift to the right, getting us ready for decades of conservative agenda-pushing? Since Tuesday’s election, the disappointment has turned into disgust, and I’m trying hard to not be too scared of the oily wars and undermining of the constitution to come ‘cause of course that’s exactly what I’m supposed to be.
Even here in San Francisco where we think of ourselves as progressive and surely enlightened, voters decided to cut the cash payments for single homeless people—from $320-395 per month to $59. The difference is supposed be provided as services, such as housing or meals—except that there are far too few of those services available, and a second proposition under which the city would create new housing and drug treatment programs didn’t make it. This is in a city with one of of the highest costs of living index in the nation, and where the average single family home costs 4.25 as much as the national average.
Care not Cash, as the initiative is titled, claims it “will save lives by fundamentally reforming how we provide care to the homeless”, but it’s really more about removing those unpleasant smelly people from the streets where they scare tourists, shoppers, and other people with money who think it’s their right to only look at pretty things. A sentiment that’s expressed in an ad campaign on billboards all over town called “We Want Change”, supported by the Hotel Council of San Francisco and other business interest groups such as several merchants and restaurant associations, in other words, those who cater to the tourists, shoppers, and other people with money. In the campaign, yuppies hold up cardboards with hand-written slogans such as “I want to be able to walk down the street without being asked for money”, or “I don’t want to have to hold my breath every time I pass an alley.” There are more and I don’t remember every one but they all start out with “I want.” The yuppies all look very concerned and serious, or maybe the fact that they are holding up a cardboard just gives them the creeps even though it’s a clean one and it’s only for a photoshoot.
As annoying as the campaign is, I have to admit it’s very effective. I mean, how can you possibly disagree with its statements? I don’t like the smell of urine in my street either, and of course I don’t want to be bugged for change. But that’s just a description of a problem. It could be addressed in all kinds of ways. The insidious part is when you imply that people who care about an issue have to all agree on how to deal with it. Moreover, those who disagree are accused of supporting the exact opposite. If you don’t support Care not Cash you want people to die in the streets from overdoses. If you don’t want to get the homeless off the streets you support homelessness. If you are not with us, you are with the terrorists.