ANSWERS: 15
  • A lot of people think of them as lazy, or look down on them because a lot of them are addicted to drugs. The truth of the matter is, not everyone who is homeless doesn't work, there are plenty of homeless people who work crappy minimum wage jobs but still aren't paid enough money to live on. For the addicts, people who are addicted to drugs are not bad people. They can be as good people as anyone else, but they made a bad mistake. No one has a reason to be annoyed by drug addicts, they aren't harming you but they pay hell for their mistake themselves.
  • In America, we have this silly notion that anyone who works hard enough can become rich and those who don't are lazy.
  • I wonder if the lack of respect is used to cover up the fear that the disrepecter could end up there. the same way old friends are sometimes known to avoid the newly divorced. No one wants to face how fragile their own existence is. So they turn their fear outward.
  • I give them respect because Im poor too.
  • That's only by people that think they're better somehow.
  • I don't put homeless and poor people in the same category. I admit that I don't have much respect for homeless folks who have options to take care of themselves but CHOOSE not to. On the other hand, if someone chooses to have different values re attainment of wealth or choice of job....I respect that. If you (as a poor person) want taxpayers to supplement your lack of work ethic, motivation, drive, ambition, etc., you bet I don't respect that.
  • I don't. I respect poor people who strive hard so that they could support themselves.. those people that didn't have a choice. It's not their fault they're poor. I disrespect the people who have a lot, but don't really care or value what they have in life.. and just squander it for nonsensical commodities.
  • Some would say their lack of effort is a sure sign of failure, and nobody respects a failure. Then again, define failure. They have the option to change their life and create something for themselves, but they opt to not do so and to remain hated and unseen. People dont care for those who dont try, or attempt to do something. If you do something, and your best friend doesnt, even though it would help them, you think less of them, you even tell them. You wouldn't tell a bum, because they dont care....right?
  • I respect the poor and homeless (not in the same category), because SOME of them are there, not because they want to, but were less fortunate. I can agree SOME homeless people are lazy drinkers who think they have nothing else in life, but not all.
  • Because those same people actually thing that those poor and homeless people had control over their life and could control whether they wanted to be poor and homeless or not.
  • How can one command respect when they have no respect for themselves?
  • Because people in general are not nice, and there is no immediate and real reward for being nice to those in need! It is not limited to Americans and it is not limited to our time. The poor and destitute have been neglected almost everywhere for almost all time. It stems from the fact that there are limited amount of goods and constant competition for those goods. In fairness, some people just need a little help to get back on their feet, but others just want handouts forever and many people don't think that is right.
  • It's easy to pour scorn on someone in a bad situation, and claim they only have themselves to blame if you've never been there yourself - most of us do it to some group in society at some point in our lives. It's easy to look at some smelly guy with a bottle in a paper bag sitting under the bridge and think "I'd never let myself get like that." if you've never been faced with the real possibility of it.
  • I once lived next door to a poor man because the rent was half what it was anyplace else. One day he ran out of rolling papers, and I had a case so I gave it to him. Now, if you don't smoke you might not know what that means. A case of rolling papers had 24 packs and cost a little under 30 bux. This guy used one pack and knocked the rest into the toilet. That is typical of a poor person: he is unable to take care of things, and that is why his cost of living is so much higher than for most people. If you drive through a poor neighborhood you will see mountains of broken furniture. They buy the cheapest crap they can find, because they know it's not going to last. Then they break it, because everybody knows it's just cheap crap. And that is their attitude toward all of life. At the other extreme, some rich people will not do business with a man whose heels are worn even a little bit. Because he has shown that he is not in the habit of taking care of details.
  • That's simply not true. At least not in all cases. I've always been respected even during the two years I was homeless. But I was also respectable.

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