By David Poyet Santa Monica
I used to think that newspapers were neutral in what it reported. I know that the writers express their own point of view, but, it seems that your paper is systematically demonizing the homeless by printing all and every derogatory story about the homeless and never writing anything that doesn’t demonize them.
It seem to me that you publish any letter to the editor that bashes the homeless, starting with the article about, “how safe do you feel in Santa Monica.” A woman wrote she thought that the transients/homeless were responsible for the two murders. If she meant that the people who are responsible don’t live in this town, she is probably right. They probably left in their Mercedes.
And then you printed another article about aggressive panhandling. If you call someone holding a sign and asking for money as aggressive, then I need to be locked up … because I practically yell at people over the phone for money. All the businesses have their own signs and for one reason only, they want your money. What’s the difference? I have never witness ed any type of aggressive panhandling, except the night I did it as an experiment. I admit, I was aggressive, but, like I said, no different than any salesman who’s got to meet a quota.
I assume you wrote this article from the textbook of the Bush Administration. Propaganda first, scare them, then get the sheep to agree with us, because the article on the panhandling campaign should of been rewrit-ten as “listen people, we’re going to tell you how to think. In fact, we’re going to spend $100,000 so you know we mean business.” Telling people how not to be human beings? Crazy! Do people in Santa Monica really need someone to do a study to let them know how to act? I guess so.
You should be proud of your campaign against the homeless, because I see in [the] paper, you published another anti-homeless letter to the editor. This time the writer stated he had to leave because of the “homeless problem.” I don’t think Santa Monica lossed anything.
And here is the most unethical part of this whole war against the homeless. You would think by reading the police blotter that you print on every Friday that the only crime that is committed is by homeless people? I guarantee that if we check the police blotter for the week that it would show that there were other crimes committed by people that live in a home. But this is part of the whole demonization of the homeless and its being conducted by you. A newspaper? What happened?
And the paper isn’t the only one to blame. Where are all the ex-homeless, or compassionate people, why don’t you write to the editor? Oh, I am sorry, my mistake, an ex-homeless person did write in. He stated that he was taking advantage of everybody’s generosity and was buying drugs with the money he got off the street, and that people shouldn’t give money to the homeless. How funny is that? Par for the course for this paper.
Bobby Kennedy once said … that those that live with us are our bothers, that they share the same short moment of life, that they seek, as do we, nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness ….
It’s OK to give money to a homeless person. That’s your right …. Everyone makes up life. Not everyone but the homeless.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 24, 2008. Read the original PDF.