I am asking because I know people from both sides:

  • People who discourage it: usually talk about how the beggars might spend their money on, how they might be lying, How donating to them will encourage them to keep begging and how they should be looking for a job instead (My commentary: finding a job is impossible for them this days, matter of fact there is literally hundreds, if not thousands of articles online talking about how hard and impossible it had become).
  • People who encourage it: to be honest here, they usually talk only about religious reasons.

(Note: I know that the overview about both sides are highly unbalanced, but I preferred to keep it limited to my personal experiences rather than expanding it from myself, as I intentionally not looking for theories and objective logic, rather I am looking at people reasons and opinions as this is highly subjective matter.)

Anyone got any thoughts about this?

  • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
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    2 days ago

    The issue here isn’t about charity for the less fortunate. Many of the people begging make a decent living (from begging), and moreso than those working shitty service jobs. I don’t want to give money to someone that dresses homeless and puts on an act. I would happily give money to anyone that genuinely doesn’t know where they will sleep next week, or where their next meal is coming from.

    The problem is that I’m not in a position to evaluate that. As such, I would rather give money to food banks and the like, since they are in a better position for that.

    • nullroot@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      This is such a bad take. If it’s so profitable why don’t you quit your job and go beg for a living? Someone is asking for help and your response is to question their worthiness or intention?

      Someone is asking for help. Help if you can. It’s not easy to get out their and hold a sign belittling yourself and putting your fate in the hands of strangers. Have a little humanity.

      • swelter_spark@reddthat.com
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        2 days ago

        My perspective is, if someone is walking around asking for money and I’m not, they probably need it more than I do.