Brilliant, and painfully true. Homeless people and panhandlers are invisible, and therefore “non-persons” — no one makes eye contact with them, or acknowledges their existence as people, not even when they’re reluctantly passing them spare change. That kind of dehumanization truly adds insult to injury.
Many of the homeless do say that the worst part of being homeless is that they disappear in plain sight – few people are willing to even look their way.
I became sensitive to how people can become invisible back when I was in college in the 1950s. I worked in a gas station during the summer, and was amazed that people who were cordial to me in a social setting on a Sunday afternoon didn’t “see” me when they came into the station on Monday even whe I called them by name. And were cordial to me the next Sunday after the sailboat races.
Steve Bartholomew over 12 years ago
This is probably a scientific fact.
PICTO over 12 years ago
How can all those people not see him? He’s standing right next to that honest politician.
PShaw0423 over 12 years ago
Brilliant, and painfully true. Homeless people and panhandlers are invisible, and therefore “non-persons” — no one makes eye contact with them, or acknowledges their existence as people, not even when they’re reluctantly passing them spare change. That kind of dehumanization truly adds insult to injury.
iced tea over 12 years ago
It’s a sad fact.
Zaristerex over 12 years ago
There was a beggar on the side of the road the other day with only one leg. Geez.
MotherOfMoses over 12 years ago
Big foot in the cityRunning wild & looking pretty
fishbulb239 over 12 years ago
Many of the homeless do say that the worst part of being homeless is that they disappear in plain sight – few people are willing to even look their way.
galanti over 12 years ago
I became sensitive to how people can become invisible back when I was in college in the 1950s. I worked in a gas station during the summer, and was amazed that people who were cordial to me in a social setting on a Sunday afternoon didn’t “see” me when they came into the station on Monday even whe I called them by name. And were cordial to me the next Sunday after the sailboat races.