One would think I’d tire of bitching about homelessness. That the continual outrage would wear thin. That instead of getting all worked up over unmet human needs week after grinding week, I might finally get the message and just shut up.
Well, it’s true. On Wednesday, Aug. 15,
confronted by the latest news on homelessness and my corresponding sympathetic nervous system response — flared nostrils, dilated pupils, elevated heart rate — I felt a little nauseated at the prospect of crafting yet another broken-record Director’s Corner.
I turned to my 9-year-old girls for advice.
“Write about how kitty always wants to eat plastic!” one volunteered helpfully.
“No!” said the other. “Write about how kitty is fat and needs to go on a diet!”
Our cat, Blinky, licked a paw and stared back at us, unfazed by the criticism.
Or I could be more like NPR. I learned on Thursday, Aug. 16,
for example, of the narrow window for Olympic athletes to gain celebrity endorsement contracts, and how the social media company Klout has adjusted its algorithm to reflect that President Obama is actually more influential than Justin Bieber.
All of which speaks to the many pressing issues that threaten our democracy. I’m starting to think that maybe 9-year olds are running NPR.
Occasionally, however, the station does tell us something interesting, such as when journalist Audie Cornish reported that nearly all of the 2 million jobs created since the beginning of the recession in 2007 have gone to college graduates. Official unemployment for recent high school grads with no college now stands at 26 percent.
This could have been framed as something like: “New evidence that poor and working class people are totally screwed by the loss of 6 million manufacturing jobs and government doesn’t really give a crap.”
Instead, npr went for the more obvious take, relevant to its audience, “Study: College degree holds its value.”
Congratulations, college grads! You might be up to your eyeballs in debt, but at least you’re qualified to work at Starbucks.
This brings me back to where I began: Why the issue of homelessness enrages me. I recently read the Seattle Times online and got pissed off.
An article on the retirement of long-time Committee to End Homelessness in King County director Bill Block “examined” the core issue concerning the Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness, the tension between housing and emergency shelter.
The article reported, “Block said there’s a huge unmet need for both shelter and permanent housing. ‘The question is, what’s the best investment for government to move the most people off the street the most effectively?’ ” [Close-quote. End of story. End of discussion.]
No, Bill, that is not the question, and it never has been. The question is: Why, after three decades of attrition, has government systematically disinvested in whatever paltry safety net we have left, at precisely the time when it is needed most?
The question is not how should government best “invest” its scarce resources to “end homelessness.” The question is: Why has government abandoned the poor and working class, and how are we going to fight back?
Until someone can give me good answers, I'll never tire of writing about homelessness.