You’d expect this type of thing from the French, but worldwide, spikes are popping up to deter the homeless from resting in places where people may actually see them. They are appearing outside luxury apartment homes in London, on park benches in Japan, and under highways in China. Twitter user David Wells stated, “The destitute [are] now considered vermin.”
With an estimated 100 million people worldwide are homeless at any given time, the homeless are being treated like an epidemic. Homelessness has increased by 75% in London over the last three years, and they’re increasingly unable to deal with the problem.
These spikes are likely to appear in the United States soon. Homelessness has been on the rise in recent years thanks to the housing crisis and recession of 2008. People that have taken to the streets are becoming harder to dismiss, and rising out of poverty is more difficult than ever thanks to the stagnant job market.
While the ethical implications of these spikes are obvious, Benjamin Franklin, who was once homeless himself, had this to say on the destitute. “I am for doing good to the poor, but…I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.” Perhaps these spikes are just the motivation the disenfranchised need to really start getting their acts together.
[about_faith]
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