aneurysmpost

You are correct. I wish I had more to say than that. I wish I was cogniscient of these issues back then.

The proper attitude is to treat their beliefs as real (to them) and not just conspiracy or insanity. To look at them as your brother or sister and ask yourself “how did they get this way?” and not just hand-wave away their beliefs as insanity. The proper attitude is to truly engage with those who aren’t just acting in bad faith. How to differentiate that aspect, though, is getting harder to the point of impossibility. I fear we may have reached a tipping point where it becomes impossible to discern bad faith from deep propaganda brainwashing. I’m not sure if there is still a path forward in genuine conversation and understanding, which is the only route to breed empathy, something these people both lack within themselves and are deprived of from outside. I don’t see it as their fault. I see it as a failing of the community at large, one that is more ready to shun the individual, because that’s way easier than actually trying to genuinely engage them and help them grow as a person.

I believe the way out of fascism truly is love and compassion. My fear is that it’s a cycle; the perceived distance of fascism makes our society more susceptible to being taken over by it, leading to a fascist society benefiting the few, leading to the grassroots recognition that we are one people and one humanity, leading to an uprooting of fascism and rise of empathy.

Sorry if this was a bit hard to follow, I haven’t been sleeping well and I’m awake far too early.

This attitude is part of why we have this problem today. These people didn’t come from nowhere. They weren’t just creeps on the internet. The percentage of the population that desires a trump presidency is far too significant. Half the country has been quietly wishing for a christo-fascist oligarchy since 2001. They’ve put in a lot of time and effort to make their dream come true. It’s a shame nobody was really watching (even though the FBI has reports going back years about the infiltration of white supremacy groups into law enforcement), at least not close enough to make a difference in its growth.

The unfortunate truth is that this was allowed to happen. We dismissed their beliefs as crazy rantings instead of real threats to be addressed. If people more readily acknowledged the beliefs held by trumpets as real (a real threat) instead of internet insanity, we wouldn’t be here. Instead, we shoved them away, crying wacko. Now the propaganda runs so deep in some, there is literally no turning them back. The rise of fascism in this country hasn’t been taken seriously enough. And I don’t think it ever will be, until it’s far too late.

A fax is only as secure as the line it’s transmitted on (I think)

It’s worse than clickbait, the article doesn’t list any of them.

just trust us bro we’re so passionate and reliable

audits are totally unnecessary

Are you joking, or high? Let’s see, what would be great evidence of a desire to improve? Hmmmmm…

I think you’re being intentionally obtuse. The article is anything but vague. Are they supposed to name the exact agencies and businesses involved, or can we reasonably assume that Laydon is referring to state funded assistance? Here’s some select bits of the article since you don’t want to read.

Douglas County had created a team of experts, known as the “Homeless Engagement, Assistance and Resource Team," to help tackle the issue.  The HEART team, as county officials call it, is made up of experts in behavioral health and who are deployed in branded vehicles to help people living on the streets.

Here’s how the county handles it. When a report is made about a panhandler or a homeless person, a  HEART vehicle is deployed to the area and make an assessment.

Laydon called Douglas County’s approach “housing plus,” which, he said, is a balanced approach to “trauma-informed practices.”

“For us,” Laydon added, “‘housing plus’ means wraparound. So, it is housing, but it is also food, shelter, job counseling, mental health counseling. It’s treating those substance abuse issues that we know often come hand in hand with a lot of the issues that the unhoused face.”

Edit: Additionally, I fail to see the relevance of money spent if it actually results in less people unhoused. Denver spent way more money and ended up with a higher unhoused population than before.

Did you read the article? The actual details of the program are pretty far from what you say here. Don’t have time to bullet point at the moment but please trust me and just take a full look. As someone with deep personal experience around this issue, their method might be a genuine answer to the problem, when properly scaled. Not the first time a plan like theirs has been tried either; Olympia, WA has a similar program for direct outreach.

Let’s not forget this is the same company that invented ‘Embrace, Extend, Extenguish’ as a guiding business model behind closed doors. For me, that trust is broken until proven otherwise.