[QUOTE]A leading Swedish professor has said that it should be illegal for people to give money to beggars but his idea has been described as a "joke" by campaigners. "Anybody who begs in front of us on the street doesn't offer anything apart from their social vulnerability and the person that gives is exploiting their situation to get satisfaction and ease their social conscience," wrote Rothstein in the newspaper.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]Anna Johansson of the Stockholm city mission said that people being on the streets begging was a "symptom" that poverty exists all around the world.
"In order to address the root of the problem we must engage in dialogue at international and European level in particular the most affected countries, for example Romania," she told the TT news agency.[/QUOTE]
Source: [url]http://www.thelocal.se/20131229/swedish-professor-ban-begging-handouts[/url]
-snip, tired and dumb-
A pretty crap idea, it just hides poverty under the rug.
When I went to Sweden for a Summer last year; it was the first time I'd ever been swarmed by Gypsies asking for money from me.. but an entire day of it.
[editline]16th January 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=Sgt Doom;43558439]A pretty crap idea, it just hides poverty under the rug.[/QUOTE]
agreed; worst thing to do in this position
If we just let all the poor people starve then there won't be poverty anymore.
Its simple guys I fixed the economy
[QUOTE=RainbowStalin;43558466]If we just let all the poor people starve then there won't be poverty anymore.
Its simple guys I fixed the economy[/QUOTE]
It reminds me of a great political mind named Patrick Star
I suspect this is more stabbed at the organized crime that use supposed poor people as means to gather money with little to no questions. There are already plenty of support for homeless people, i.e. Situation Stockholm.
I see the point he's making but I think (some) beggars that use the money to fund addictions (drugs/alcohol) will turn to illegal means rather then getting a job.
snip, bad reading x1
[QUOTE=Sgt Doom;43558439]A pretty crap idea, it just hides poverty under the rug.[/QUOTE]
Reckon we should Soylent Green it
[QUOTE=slamex;43558530]Reckon we should Soylent Green it[/QUOTE]I wouldn't imagine beggars would be particularly nutritious.
Most of the ones I see are not poor. They are just annoying. This annoying guy at the subway keeps running around putting these pictures of sick people that he googled on the seats on the subway. Fancy laminated cards where he writes in poor Swedish. He even asks for the note to be returned because they probably cost a bit to make. If he can afford to pay the price for a subway ticket/card and also keep printing those new fancy laminated cards, he can pay for food. I keep seeing him meeting up with his "gang" of other beggars.
Sure there are people who genuinely need help but there is help offered in Sweden. They give you money and a home so you can live decently without lifting a finger. So people begging in the streets, the ones I keep running into, are far from those in need.
[QUOTE=CommanderPT;43558592]Most of the ones I see are not poor. They are just annoying. This annoying guy at the subway keeps running around putting these pictures of sick people that he googled on the seats on the subway. Fancy laminated cards where he writes in poor Swedish. He even asks for the note to be returned. If he can afford to pay the price for those expensive subway cards, he can afford food. I keep seeing him meeting up with his "gang" of other beggars.
Sure there are people who genuinely need help but there is help offered in Sweden. They give you money and a home so you can live decently without lifting a finger. So people begging in the streets, the ones I keep running into, are far from those in need.[/QUOTE]
You're not alone. We seem to have a fellow here who runs a begging ring so large, he's a millionaire several times over, and owns prime property in several high end neighborhoods in one of our major cities.
Well it is a growing problem but to put a ban on it is not really the right thing to do. The last 4 month where I live it has gone from seeing around 3 beggars to over 10. And they will return if the keep getting money.
The country they are from should do something. Yes, it is terrible they can't find jobs in their own country and sad they can't get a job here. But they blame the Swedish politics for not helping them with jobs and places to live. Is not that their country's problem in the first hand?
Another big problem is that those who get a job get real underpaid with bad contracts (not all but most) and can't understand simple things because they don't know the language. Some of them can't even understand basic English. It a real pain to have those people work around you, I have it almost daily.
Saw one of them outside our local store play games on her Galaxy S4. such is the life when you don't have money for the new IPhone I guess..
If they really need help it's not that hard to get here, as CommanderPT said.
How to tell a real beggar from a scam one; Offer to buy them food or a hot drink instead, if they get pissed off at that idea, they're either scammers, or alcoholics/drug users looking for cash to either make money or buy more drugs/alcohol with.
[QUOTE=RayvenQ;43558771]How to tell a real beggar from a scam one; Offer to buy them food or a hot drink instead, if they get pissed off at that idea, they're either scammers, or alcoholics/drug users looking for cash to either make money or buy more drugs/alcohol with.[/QUOTE]
One of my friends bought a sandwich and offred it to a beggar outside our local food store and she said "I only want money, give me money". Need less to say my friend got pissed and repsonded with "Ungrateful idiot".
And like CommanderPT said there is help. I also agree with what The Fox said.
I hate these beggars who leave the notes on trains saying stuff like "my son suffers from leukaemia, fund his treatment for me".
But the thing is he would get his treatment in Sweden and not only that, many different beggars has the same fucking note. Their notes are even shrinkwrapped.
[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;43558519]Yeah, cause fuck the poor, right, you self-centred prick?[/QUOTE]
[quote]Anybody who begs in front of us on the street doesn't offer anything apart from their social vulnerability and the person that gives is exploiting their situation to get satisfaction and ease their social conscience[/quote]
What he's saying is that people who give money to the beggars have no desire to help them (or if they do, its in a very weird way) because they only give because they feel bad.
When you walk down the street and see a beggar. You feel bad. This is why people try to avoid beggars, walk around them, avoid eye contact, speed up, etc. If you give them money, it's not necessarily because you want to help them, but in order to make yourself feel more comfortable and get rid of any guilt you may have.
Beggars tend to pick strategic spots where people will be walking in large numbers, and hopefully near couples as well. If a guy stops and gives some cash to a beggar it makes him look good in front of his girlfriend. People give beggars money in areas where everybody can see them doing it, and it's essentially them advertising to the people around them "Look at me I am a good and moral person".
If you want to eliminate poverty, there's better ways.
I'm not sure what to think, of course you can't and shouldn't ban handouts but at the same time we have a well-functioning safety net in Sweden and beggars in the streets have either chosen to not accept that help or have been turned away for legit reasons.
[QUOTE=Sgt Doom;43558568]I wouldn't imagine beggars would be particularly nutritious.[/QUOTE]
Imagine them like McDonalds, or Hotdogs. It's all about the addictive :)
A lot of the beggars in Stockholm are Romani from Romania, from a small village.
i gave a beggar money once, then he tried to make me take him to mcdonalds.
Never giving money to beggars again.
How could anyone in their right mind say "fuck you" to the poor like this?
[editline]16th January 2014[/editline]
Obv not referring to scam artists, for clarification
[QUOTE=RayvenQ;43558771]How to tell a real beggar from a scam one; Offer to buy them food or a hot drink instead, if they get pissed off at that idea, they're either scammers, or alcoholics/drug users looking for cash to either make money or buy more drugs/alcohol with.[/QUOTE]
I've only ever had one guy accept my offer, and he was selling drawings he made on the street. (At least he is doing what he loves) Every other beggar I've encountered wanted only money.
One time a guy came up to me and was so close to me we were almost nose-to-nose. His obvious attempt to make me uncomfortable made me decide I was going to screw with this guy. He asked "Do you have any money?". I said "Do you have change for a five?"
"No...?"
"Then no."
He walked away pissed off. My brother looked at me and asked "What if he had said yes?". "Then I would have told him that he has more money than I do."
My dad just asks them if they take debit. They laugh but then look at him like he is a smartass. My sides every time.
[QUOTE=milkandcooki;43559686]How could anyone in their right mind say "fuck you" to the poor like this?
[editline]16th January 2014[/editline]
Obv not referring to scam artists, for clarification[/QUOTE]
They're pretty much all shitty scam artists though, which is also probably part of the reason everyone that has to pass through the big cities hate gypsies
Pan Handling is an art in San Francisco is you ever go there. I saw some dirty poor women in a wheel chair clogging up traffic begging for money. Then later that night I saw her get up and fold up her wheel chair and go up some steps all nice and clean listening to her ipod.
[QUOTE=The fox;43558490]I suspect this is more stabbed at the organized crime that use supposed poor people as means to gather money with little to no questions. [/QUOTE]
Like the gypsies who exploit their kids to beg?
I once was approached by a hobo asking for a dollar at a drive thru to get a burger. We said we would, bought him a burger, and he [I] turned it down.[/I]
I've rarely given out handouts since.
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