NATION: You Do Realize They Are Human, Don't You?

Working Theory: I've stated many times that in my anecdotal experience, about half of our SLO population hates the homeless, and about half feel that we need to do more to help them. The high "hate" percentage has always confused me, because basic humanity calls for treating all people with a certain level of dignity, even those we don't like. For instance, the Israelis and America both give 100's of millions of dollars to the Palestinians every year, even though the Palestinians primary reason for living appears to be the killing of all Jews. So why so much hate for our homeless brothers and sisters? That is the topic of this article.

The Spanish Ruled our California Missions: I've been putting together a presentation on the California Missions for a local community service group on 2/3/2016. While thumbing through my extensive library on the California Mission System, I made the connection: the Spanish Conquistadores of New Spain in the 1500's, as well as the more recent Friars and Soldiers of our California Mission system in the late 1700's and early 1800's, both somehow saw Native Americans as less than human. In addition, a theory has been posited that in order to treat slaves in our early days of America so poorly, you had to see them as somehow less than human. 

Let's start with this book I just ordered from Amazon, called Less Than Human: The Psychology of Cruelty, which you can read about by clicking here. 

An excerpt from the book: In ancient Chinese, Egyptian and Mesopotamian literature, the author found repeated references to enemies as subhuman creatures. When people dehumanize others, they actually conceive of them as subhuman creatures. When the Nazis described Jews as Untermenschen, or subhumans, they didn't mean it metaphorically. They didn't mean they were like subhumans. They meant they were literally subhuman."

Above: Our stone age Indians crafted deadly arrowheads from obsidian, as in this beautiful example from California. What are our homeless capable of, if given the chance to be productive? At this rate, we'll never know.
Indians were considered to be Less-Than-Human: What gave the old worlde Spanish such carte blanche to treat the Indians with such cruelty? Evidence indicates that they considered them somewhat less than human, despite their ability to behave in what, by all evidence, was thoroughly human ways.

Let's Look at the Russians on the Kamchatka Peninsula: In the 1600's and 1700's, the Russians expanded eastward across Siberia to the Kamchatka Peninsula, where they encountered the Kamchadal people. The Russians were notorious for their brutality to the native peoples.  A Russian said of the Kamchadal people: "Only in the power of speech do they differ from animals". 

Stray Dogs get Better Treatment in SLO: I've often remarked about how we treat the homeless worse than we treat a stray dog here in San Luis Obispo. Many homeless have told me they would love to live in a kennel at Woods Humane society, where they would be treated with the same dignity and respect as a dog residing in the very same kennel. In that kennel, they would have: safety and security, privacy, heating and air-conditioning, food and water, a regularly cleaned home, a roof that doesn't leak, and the care and concern of adoring staff.

How are the homeless received out in the streets? One of the last groups that can be openly discriminated against without consequence are the homeless. Go ahead and make disparaging remarks about the homeless - nobody will defend the them - try that with any "protected class". It is not uncommon to hear the public disparaging them, telling them to get a job or get out of town. 

It is apparently the view of our local powers-that-be that the homeless must either be put back into housing or driven out of town - they don't care which. When the homeless are getting ticketing for sleeping on a park bench, they ask authorities "where can I go?", to which the most common answer is some subtle (or not so subtle) form of: "away - just GO - A - WAY".

While reading of the Spanish and their harsh treatment of Indians, it occurred to me that society as a whole views the homeless as somehow less than human. Not surprisingly, the phrase I most often utter to our local officials when I meet with them are: "you do realize, they are people, don't you?". And if you do, why can't we start treating them with more understanding and humanity?