[twoodfin]

When was the last time you met the eyes of one of these good-for-nothing, lazy, bad-smelling, disgusting … things?

That's a fairly vile perspective to project onto someone you're trying to have a productive conversation with.

Please treat folks on hn with a bit more respect.

[hosh]

I've watched people and how they actually react to people on the streets. I've watched myself. When aversion arises, I have seen this reaction.

Does everyone on HN have this aversion? No. I can't even see your faces, hear your voice. But everyone has some kind of aversion. There is often something vile lurking within the depths of people's hearts. It's ugly. I wrote that to give you the reader, a sense of empathy for the people who turn away in disgust from another human being, and believe me, I've seen that kind of reaction in person.

I've seen it in people walking down the street being solicited by the homeless. I've seen it in mothers and fathers turning away from their children. I've seen it in politicians, and activists. I've seen it all sorts of ordinary people.

I don't know if you react that way. You might. You might not. You might even react this way, and don't even know it.

The only way to be truly respectful is not to hide this, but to bring this ugliness out into the open, to really look at it, and to accept that you have these feelings -- whatever those feelings are -- arising from you. Who knows? You might find the deeper root causes for those feelings.

[jmspring]

I've watched and engaged here where I live. Reaction depends on whom you are engaging with. Crazy guy hopped up on something and not sure how he is going to react is a lot different then the guy trying to get by/improve himself and not wanting to be a burden on society.

For the most part, the able bodied young "travelers" that seem to infest this town from time to time are generally met with scorn. The mother with two kids living out of an RV and wanting to avoid the crazy / disturbed street people - met with compassion and care.

[twoodfin]

"Some kind of aversion" is a long, long way from seeing other human beings as "things".

I think it would be better if we all acted as if hn were populated by people much closer to the former end of that spectrum.

[hosh]

> "Some kind of aversion" is a long, long way from seeing other human beings as "things".

Every moment you to avert your attention, you are treating a person as a thing. You stop seeing the person and react to the aversion instead.

This is something that happens with pretty much everyone.

The difference here is for me, I am seeing people who, from time to time, will have aversions, and will in that moment treat that person as a thing. For you, it seems to be an unforgivable act that once committed, can never, ever be redeemed. I think that latter is another form of typecasting, don't you think?

I think it is useful to recognize that each of us have done this in the past, as a way of being aware of what is happening in the present moment. So that, when you do find yourself walking down the street, and you are busy, rushing to somewhere else, and someone asks you for change: do you at least stop, look at that person in the eyes, and sincerely tell that person, "No, I don't have change for you. Sorry."?