OKAY, I CANT JUST SIT BACK AND KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT ANY LONGER. The media has been having a field day with inflammatory headlines about the 90 YEAR OLD MAN ARRESTED FOR FEEDING THE HOMELESS and the 33 cities in the USA where it is ILLEGAL TO FEED THE HOMELESS. Ive heard Russell Brand spout off about how ludicrous it is to make it illegal to share food with homeless and hungry people, with the headline $4 Billion Spent on Elections, But Feeding the Homeless is Illegal (a variation of which has shown up in graphics posted on Facebook that say things like $4 Billion to Buy Congress. But Feeding the Homeless is Illegal). People then share and retweet the media stories and the graphics and become outraged, believing them to be true and accurate, without doing any thinking or research on their own. (Its similar to the way people have come to believe that gluten-free foods are good for you, as if they were some kind of a health food. For people with celiac disease, a gluten-free diet is essential. But for others, medical experts warn, a gluten-free diet can lack essential vitamins, minerals and fiber. But I digress.) Its almost as bad as the media reporting that Police Shoot Unarmed Youth Who Was Trying To Surrender. Its irresponsible to say such a thing, when the true facts are unknown, but in that case, it might be true - we just dont know. However, to say that its illegal to feed homeless people and that a 90 year old man was arrested for doing so is just OUTRIGHT FALSE and the media is more than irresponsible for propagating lies. Maybe its just because one of the few English-language TV channels where I am comes from Miami, but it seems like the city of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, is ground zero for much of the media propaganda and rhetoric. It was in Ft. Lauderdale where the 90 year old man was arrested, supposedly for feeding the homeless. (The headlines read Florida: Where Charity is a Crime) I found it hard to believe that Ft. Lauderdale actually had a law that made it illegal to feed the homeless. So I checked. It turns out that its all a big lie. There is no such law. Here is what the actual city ordinance in question says: Feeding sites are not to be more than 500 feet away from each other and 500 feet from residential properties. Only one group is allowed to share food with the homeless per city block. The ordinance doesnt ban feeding the homeless. It was not motivated by a desire to drive them to another city or to “criminalize homelessness” as some irresponsible people have claimed. The ordinance merely regulates outdoor mass “feedings”. It continues to permit feeding the homeless indoors, in churches and public buildings where handwashing, bathrooms, refrigeration and other health and food safety practices – such as keeping hot and cold foods at the appropriate temperatures – are available. Ron Book, chair of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust explains the rationale for such an ordinance: “feeding people outdoors flies in the face of our efforts to end homelessness. When you feed people out on the streets, garbage gets dropped, that breeds rodents and creates a health and safety hazard for them and general public.” He added, “Feeding needs to be done indoors.” (It should be noted that Fort Lauderdale is one of the 10 most rat-infested cities in the USA.) Picture, if you will, a nice city park taken over by huge mass feeding stations that feed hundreds of people and then leave behind a bunch of garbage that attracts rats - rats that carry disease (and that torment homeless people when they try to sleep at night, by the way). The mayor of Ft. Lauderdale has also pointed to the public health and safety factors behind the ordinance banning outdoor mass feedings: “we have a responsibility to ensure that all of our public spaces are accessible and can be safely enjoyed by everyone – families, children, residents and visitors.” Most people will say that homeless people should be treated like everyone else. In most cities, restaurants and other places where food is served are inspected so that consumers know the food is healthy and prepared using sanitary conditions. Even the hotdog vendor on the street has to be licensed and inspected to sell food. But people think there should be no regulation of public feeding of homeless people? If people like Russell Brand was standing up for the best interests of everyone, he would support public feeding regulations, because its a heath and public safety issue. (In St Louis, a few years ago, a few college kids thought it was great fun to go around putting feces in sandwiches and giving them out to homeless people. At the time, public feeding was not regulated so there were no laws to stop such abuse.) Many charities receive food donations after the food is expired and cant be legally sold. Much of the food is still fine, but churches and other charities often dont have the proper storage facilities, so the donated food can quickly go bad. If public feeding isnt regulated, then anyone can feed anything to anyone. What about the poor old 90 year old man, Arnold Abbott, who was arrested for feeding the homeless? Well, it turns out that, although he has done some very nice and charitable things, he might be a bit of a trouble-maker and not completely honest about what happened to him. It appears that Mr. Abbott and his volunteers were intentionally violating the city ordinance in order to bring attention to his cause. He deliberately set up his big feeding station in non-compliance with the ordinance. I saw television interviews with some of his people, proclaiming that they were willing to be arrested to make their point. When the authorities arrived (probably alerted by Mr. Abbott, himself) they asked Mr. Abbott and his friends to please move the feeding station one block away and he refused. Why? The new ordinance is in place to provide safe, sanitary accommodations to the homeless who are being served. If Mr. Abbott wants to serve the homeless, he was welcome to do so - a block away. Or, he could invite them to come eat at his church, where theres a restroom and more sanitary conditions for serving food. Further, despite what Mr. Abbott and the media want you to believe, Mr. Abbott was never arrested for violating the city ordinance. He wasnt handcuffed, taken into custody, booked or jailed. To hear him interviewed by the media, however, youd think hed been Tazed, roughed up by the police, and thrown into a jail cell. Simply not true. It boggles my mind that major newspapers and television networks can report that a 90 Year Old Man was Arrested for Feeding the Homeless and the public can accept it as true, without question, when in reality THERE IS NO LAW MAKING IT ILLEGAL TO FEED THE HOMELESS AND THE 90 YEAR OLD MAN WAS NOT ARRESTED FOR ANYTHING! Russell Brand can go on a rant on the premises that Feeding the Homeless is Illegal and people get behind him, when it is just not true. FEEDING THE HOMELESS IS NOT ILLEGAL. To suggest that it is is just ridiculous and irresponsible! Heres a doozy: A wesite called The Economic Collapse (theeconomiccollapseblog) under the title It Is Illegal To Feed The Homeless In Cities All Over The United States makes this brilliant stataement: What would you do if a police officer threatened to arrest you for trying to share a sandwich with a desperately hungry homeless woman that really needed it? Such a notion sounds absolutely bizarre, but this is actually happening in major cities all over the United States. NO, IT ISNT! This isnt happening anywhere in the United States. I dont think Im going way out on a limb here to suggest that no police officer anywhere in the United States has threatened to arrest anyone for trying to share a sandwich with a desperately hungry homeless woman! However, Im sure that some gullible people are going to read that headline and that statement and believe that its true. Heres another one: This one is at PoliceStateUSA: Three charitable volunteers, including a 90-year-old man and two Christian ministers, were dragged away in handcuffs after illegally feeding the homeless in Fort Lauderdale. Dragged away in handcuffs!!!! Take a look at the photo that the aforesaid website has posted at policestateusa/2014/fort-lauderdale-homeless-ordinance/ with the caption, Arnold Abbott, 90, is taken away in handcuffs after illegally feeding the homeless in Fort Lauderdale. Theres no handcuffs. Theres no dragging. (The caption for the photo could just as well have been Concerned police support and protect 90 year old man as he dishes up food.) Do a Google search and youll find thousands and thousands of sites (many respected and trusted media outlets and way too many outrageous propaganda machines) shouting out things like Feed the homeless, go to jail (UNTRUE) or Why is it illegal to feed the homeless (IT ISNT).
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 23:47:49 +0000
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