Mind over Media Matters

In the City Weekly letter to the editor under the heading “Save Artists Not Beggars,” reader John Nordquist makes the assumption that homeless people who don’t perform some sideshow act, whether talented or not, expect to receive “something for nothing.” By making this generalization about the state’s transient population, the writer attempts to draw the conclusion that there are those that deserve his dollar, artists, and those that do not, beggars.

But how has Nordquist come to understand the motivations and capabilities of the population he is so keen on dismissing? What insight does Nordquist have on “beggars”? Well, none.

Instead, he uses what he refers to as his “[understanding of] how tough it is to be homeless” to support his claim that beggars that provide a service want to move forward and those that just beg are content to remain homeless. Now, his understanding could be meaningful or have some credibility if he had been in their position, or even better, if he had devoted time and energy to researching the population. Or are we to simply accept that that author knows "how tough it can be"?

Unless Nordquist can offer the view of a representative sample of the homeless population stating that they are “[un]willing to offer [a] service to the community,” or provide any actual knowledge of that group, then his argument fails to be anything more than an uninformed opinion. And a repugnant one at that.