Recently, a homeless man (Johnny Bobbitt) got tied up in a GoFundMe scam to bring in cash for himself and his (what I call) housed pimps. What was the scam? He said he rescued his female pimp from having to get out and walk to fill her own gas can while she was stranded on the side of the road. He was legitimately homeless. That wasn't a lie. But, in today's world, it's not enough to just be homeless or to just be a homeless veteran (which he was). Homeless people have to do something super in order for us to care about them. These pimps knew this.
All three used the power of marketing and publicity to get the public really excited about The Beast rescuing The Damselle in Distress - just like in a fairy tale. And man, did it work. This one homeless guy got $400,000 in donations from frenzied people who thought they could really make a difference with the simple click of their donation buttons.
See, we all want a good story, we are all followers, and we are all too busy with our own lives to actually put work into our communities. We are also so desperate to be good people that if someone tells us that they have a good cause, without any due diligence, we let ourselves get scammed.
Really, what do we think one homeless guy is going to do with $400,000? Apparently, he only got $70,000 (because pimps take a deep cut), but still, what do we think one homeless guy is going to do with a lump sum of a decent middle-class yearly income? GoFundMe gave the guy a lottery ticket - and we know the history of how that goes.
His pimps (Kate McClure and Mark D'Amico) turned out to be financial disaster stories as well - blowing their cash on cars, vacations, and gambling. And now, we want to prosecute all three of them for being dishonest. I kind of have a problem with this. Johnny was legitimately homeless. We got the opportunity to help a homeless guy. His pimps knew that if they didn't sell a super story, we wouldn't care about him, so in my eyes, they get marketing points. Sure, they are deceptive messes as people, but how many times does a person get prosecuted for that?
How many times have we purchased something that wasn't as amazing as the advertisement?
I'd chalk this up to a lesson, Help the people in front of you. Do research. Do the work. Talk to homeless people and don't just give the internet $400,000.
Monday, November 26, 2018
Friday, November 16, 2018
It's Not Enough To Be Homeless For Us To Care
I've been telling stories about the homeless since 2010. I am always intrigued by the irony of who we as the public think homeless people are versus the reality of homeless people's daily ingenuity, coping powers, and life skills.
At the same time, I want to let homeless people know that they are people worth my attention because if you value a person, they are likely to value themselves. And obviously, the opposite is also true.
I've been hoping that these stories will resonate with the public - that the public will see that the homeless person is just like them and that that realization will inspire people to do something to get their neighbor off of the street.
Instead, the public pays little attention until something about the homeless makes them angry (like poop in the streets), sad (like homeless people getting killed by sociopaths), or impressed (like a homeless kid getting into Harvard).
My publicist says people work on emotion and judgment. She wants me to put words like "useless" and "fight" into my publicity copy. I know she is right, but that's not the product I'm selling. Unfortunately for me, the stories I present focus on regular people and possible solutions - and solutions aren't sexy.
I joke that I need to start telling stories about homeless pornography (which I don't know to exist) in order to inspire focused effort and resources that will get people into stable housing.
The problem is, homeless porn might get the porn stars housing, but that won't help the thousands of other homeless who didn't attract the attention. I wish all homeless had a golden voice or saved a school bus full of children - but they don't and they didn't. They are just people trying to live their lives with what they have and I want to help them - because I was taught that this country does not accept failure.
So I guess, here's my emotional plea - "No excuses, let's fix this!"
At the same time, I want to let homeless people know that they are people worth my attention because if you value a person, they are likely to value themselves. And obviously, the opposite is also true.
I've been hoping that these stories will resonate with the public - that the public will see that the homeless person is just like them and that that realization will inspire people to do something to get their neighbor off of the street.
Instead, the public pays little attention until something about the homeless makes them angry (like poop in the streets), sad (like homeless people getting killed by sociopaths), or impressed (like a homeless kid getting into Harvard).
My publicist says people work on emotion and judgment. She wants me to put words like "useless" and "fight" into my publicity copy. I know she is right, but that's not the product I'm selling. Unfortunately for me, the stories I present focus on regular people and possible solutions - and solutions aren't sexy.
I joke that I need to start telling stories about homeless pornography (which I don't know to exist) in order to inspire focused effort and resources that will get people into stable housing.
The problem is, homeless porn might get the porn stars housing, but that won't help the thousands of other homeless who didn't attract the attention. I wish all homeless had a golden voice or saved a school bus full of children - but they don't and they didn't. They are just people trying to live their lives with what they have and I want to help them - because I was taught that this country does not accept failure.
So I guess, here's my emotional plea - "No excuses, let's fix this!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)