I am sick of shinerama. What’s it been, like 50 million years since someone came up with socially sanctioned panhandling as a means of introducing the city to it’s fresh crop of fresh-faced, fresh smelling frosh and making a few pennies for cystic fibrosis?? I bet I could raise money for systic fibrosis if I promised to run over a few frosh. Fuck I hate them! I would rather encounter the usual panhandlers, whom I usually support, than these freshfaced fucktards smiling like newly trained puppies and chasing each other around like horney pre-schoolers. Pass a bylaw….do something, Halifax.
This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 3, 2008.
I couldn’t agree more. Up until a few years ago they still pretended to offer to shine your shoes but they have abandoned that pretense altogether in favor of aggressive carpet-bombing panhandling. Nothing like encountering about 20 requests for change in a one-block stretch. But even better now, this year they have adopted the median-panhandling routine with a twist — donation boxes on sticks! Ay lunchtime today they had traffic on Lacewood tied up for blocks as they kept sticking the donation boxes in open car windows and some moron drivers actually gave them money instead of running them down as they richly deserved. We have bylaws in this town for every other sort of behavior and we need one for this. Clearly Shinerama has long outlived its usefulness and needs to die a quick but hopefully painful death. The organizers should be ashamed of themselves.
This one is for Keith: You need another bylaw for WHAT? You need the government to dictate to you and the rest of us for WHAT? You’re absolutely right when you point out hungry people used to do things to encourage your “donation,” but please realize, the HRM has been tightening bylaws with respect to the “behavior of the homeless”. Even a busker can’t sell a CD until they cough up $$$ they don’t have for a “permit”. The squeegee kids now engage in “criminal behavior” if they approach you in your car… blah blah blahFuck people! What’s wrong with you? Can’t you turn your head and ignore other people’s misfortune? (hmm Maybe there’s something WRONG with you if you do that… and there is!!!) I mean, if you’re not willing to help then what fucking good are you? Meddlers!!! Why can’t you just carry on with your hoity toity lives instead of pointing out what’s wrong in others? You really think your shit don’t stink? You’ve got your head so far up your ass you can’t tell the difference anymore.Personally, I’ll fight any move to make homelessness a criminal activity. I mean, what do you expect of these people? They have nothing. They have nobody. Addiction rules their lives. There’s not much more that can go wrong for these people until YOU CAME ALONG. What have these people done to you anyway? Asked you a question? GET A FUCKING COPING SKILL!!!! Learn how to say no and do it with RESPECT you fuckwads.SHUT THE FUCK UP, BITCH!I should really stay away from all of you in the early morning… you fuck my day every time with your crap attitudes towards other HUMAN BEINGSThis one is for the OP: Get a coping skill! Even a small vocabulary could go a long way from an aural perspective. It’s a two letter word: NO. Why should the rest of us suffer bylaws because your idiot brain can’t perform an average communication with another human being involving a single syllable. Learn how to say NO. It’s NOT the government’s job to speak for you nor to speak for me.Get a wider perspective, people. Seek the BIG PICTURE. Tie my hands because you can’t say no… GET REAL!!!
Kay, you entirely miss the point. It isn’t about homelessness or poverty. It is about the organizers of Shinerama taking what was formerly a worthy cause and totally corrupting it in the minds of the public by going way over the top with their fundraising tactics. It is one thing to have to say no a few times on the way to or from work. It is quite another to be accosted dozens of times by clueless kids who are ncouraged to harass the public endlessly, and even worse, to completely interfere with already-heavy traffic by having dozens working the medians. It is all about the organizers and their tactics. Stay focused on the issue.
Propose your bylaw, Keith. Then explain what cause these people are fundraising for and then justify your bylaw, Keith. Go ahead.
Kay’s off her meds again…Seriously, I can’t believe one little word is capable of making someone go off like that EVERY TIME!Here you go Kay:Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw. Bylaw.
Jennie, it’s people like you who make people like me want to take pills… and I don’t. Ever.Hey, if you like the idea of somebody telling you how to act, feel, live… you just go ahead. I’m not interested in having the thinking done for me.
By and large, I never feel like someone is telling me how to act, live or feel. I will give you that there are a few silly bylaws on the books. But the vast majority don’t stop me from going about my daily business. They’re in place to keep the peace and keep people safe.
At least I’m consistent. More than I can say for most, Jennie.
Not sure I follow…
Nope, sorry Jennie. Bylaws, as proposed here, have nothing to do with your safety nor keeping the peace. These people want the government to do the awkward guilt provoking talking for them. These are the same people who turned the squeegee kids into criminals. These people aren’t comfortable saying no (engaging other human beings) so they want the government to come down on the people asking for your support. Give me a break.
Jennie: I can’t believe one little word is capable of making someone go off like that EVERY TIME!Kay: At least I’m consistentGet it? 😛
Ok, got it. Haven’t had any caffeine yet.Serously though, the constant bylaw ranting makes you sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist.
Whoops, I thought this was the “Love The Way We BITCH” board. I’m mistaken. I have no business posting on the “stroke my ego or fuck off” board.Whatever.
Ok here it comes people: ready for this?I agree with Kay.BUT WAIT: only on the issue that it’s simply not right to criminalize poverty. that’s a slippery slope and if we go down it as a society we may as well get all soilent green on the homeless’s collective asses.But that;s not what the OP of this post was sayign at all.It’s about inane Frosh antics that disrupt, annoy and serve no real purpose. If it was one or two homeless people, ok yeah, say no and move on. but frosh are like the herpes of panhandlers- they’re everywhere and they just don’t go away. plus oh bleeding heart kay, what do yout hink happens to the legitimate panhandlers when the streets are full of these yahoos? some frosh gets a jar full of change while someone else goes hungry. sounds like a time for a big shot of bylaw penicilin to me.
You want to outlaw active canvassing for charity? What will we think of next?*sigh*
the bylaws currently in effect are all about ‘aggressive’ or ‘disruptive’ pan handling. I can’t think of anything more aggressive or disruptive then those large groups of people, university or otherwise, who grab you and attempt to suck you dry. ever run into a crowd of amnesty international people? it’s like a freaking obstacle course to get past them sometimes and they just won’t take no for an answer, nor will the shine-frosh. so no- I don’t think we should outlaw poverty. that just hides the problem, not fixes it. BUT if we are actually going to attempt to regulate what happens on our streets, we should do it universally- not just focus on the poor and disenfranchised, while allowing the more priveledged segments of our society (ie buxom university girls and frat boys) to be above our laws and judgements.
I’d like to know what “doesn’t take no for an answer” means? Do they hunt you down? Threaten your family? Lay their hands on you? Steal your money?Food for thought: Has anybody here ever tried to “quiet down” a protest march happening in city streets? Careful.
protests are different kay. they need to get permits, and the vast majority, unless it’s spontenous displays (which rarely happen), have them. The city approves their route, there’s a police precense to keep order both of the protestors and of the spectators, and businesses along the route are often notified as well. it’s not the same thing so while it may sound like a really good zing to add to your argument, it’s wrong.what I was saying was if we’re going to penalize aggressive panhandling from the homeless and the poor, then we should do the same with charity groups canvassing. Ever run the gauntlet of amnesty international (which is actually a group I support)? you’ll have pair number one, asking you to stop a moment, listen to them, yelling out facts etc etc. if you demur, they will continue until you are reasonably out of earshot. if you make eye contact with them beware because they will stand directly in your path and make it very difficult to proceed without turning to them and saying that no, in fact, you do not care about tortured babies or whatever it is they’re harping on about. and you’ dhave to do it loudly and rudely to get the point across, something most people are not prepared to do whent hey do in fact care about tortured babies but just have someone else they need to be.after dodging pair number one, you get pair number two- this is the part that really grinds my gears. I get it, you need to canvass. so have one couple here, one somewhere else- if I’d had the awkward scene on one side of the crosswalk, WHY must I have it AGAIN on the other? THAT’S what I mean by aggressive and disruptive. so if we’re going to penalize squeegee kids, who in my experience are actually pretty good about taking no for an answer, why aren’t we penalizing these people? Not saying they CAN’T do what they do, but just in a slightly less annoying way. the hypocrisy of penalizing one and not the other gets to me, that’s all.
Kay there’s a big difference between bitching about something and obsessing about it. Most of us come here to casually gripe about one trivial thing or another, then let it go. You and your bylaws, on the other hand…
Since this little debate I’ve learned more about Shinerama. Good cause, cystic fibrosis research and care. But the way it is carried out is dangerous and inconveniencing. I would like to know how many over the past 44 years were injured or maybe even killed during this event. I would like to move about freely when I’m out and about, not be accosted by hundreds of annoying people. I think that is a basic right that I should be able to enjoy; being able to walk or drive without being disrupted by whoever.Just because I can say no, does not mean I should have to say it over and over again.
You know, if you wear a sticker they stop harassing you on the sidewalk.That’s what I do, run to the first one, grab a sticker and stick it on my forehead. FREEDOM!
They are suppose to stop antagonizing you when you wear a sticker, but they do not. Then I have to point at my sticker, which is clearly visible. (not on my forehead, but that is a thought) This pointing to the sticker, another unwanted interaction that should not have to be.
I find it easy to deal with these box wielding, frosh fanatics. I just completely ignore them altogether. I walk with a gate that shows purpose. They shove the box in my face or personal space and I just blow by them like they are gnats flying in my general direction. There are no new by laws needed. Like another poster said here, the no word works but I can understand the frustration of constantly saying no. You might want to try my tact, it works for me.As for the charity getting hijacked from it’s original intentions, complain to the Universities that are associated with this practice, maybe they don’t know or understand the crapulence that it is causing.My normal charity intentions are to give to the United Way and at Christmas, I give a shitload of food to the local church and I sleep well at night.
I agree with Burning Man, don’t even pay them attention. I wasn’t bothered by them yesterday, when I didn’t pay them any attention. If that doesn’t work, give them the death stare, and they’ll leave you alone.
i agree with hedgyhog. i am all pro panhandling, but strongly, even vehemently against shinerama/amnesty/greenpeace canvassing.if i want to donate when i see you, i will. stop interrupting my walk. i have places to be.especially when im on the phone. dont ask me if i have a miunte for amnesty when i am talking fairly loudly on the phone in another language.