Posted by Twelvebit (Victoria, United States) on 18 September 2007 in Cityscape & Urban.
What can you say about an image like this one? Unless this man is sleeping here by a choice that is the product of a rational mind he represents some aspect of failure in our society. Maybe there is nothing our society can do for this man and others like him. Maybe the necessary terms and conditions of what can be done for him are worse to him than his present condition. Either possibility represents a failure of a different order.
We often hear it said that people like this don't "want" to work and take care of themselves. The advice usually proffered to people in this situation is to "get a job." Undoubtedly, there are people who will take advantage of charity and good intentions.
What is ironic in this wealthy country is that our concerns about who is exploiting the system seem to be focused almost entirely on those at the bottom. People will hold on to a dollar fearing a beggar is not really in need and find all kinds of rationalizations to buy $200 running shoes manufactured by child laborers in a foreign country so American corporate executives can draw $60 million a year salaries, plus bonuses. The executive has a "job," so the complete disconnect between what he can realistically contribute through his intelligence or "labor," and what he takes from the system through his more sophisticated exploitation of its social and organizational mechanisms --legalized theft-- is actually admired.
We aspire to be like the executive, of course, not like the stranger living on the street. Perhaps the fact that it is easier to end up sleeping on the sidewalk, than drawing an undeserved salary in a corporate boardroom, conditions us to fear the one more than we suspect the other. And perhaps this balance between perspectives is facilitated by the comforting belief that we know as much about the executive as we do about the beggar, when the reality is we are ignorant of both.
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Powerful image, powerful words...oh spoken so true!
18 Sep 2007 10:14pm
@Shar: I don't know how to respond. Saying "thank you" feels like taking credit for something undeserved. Sometimes taking photos of people like this feels like exploitation and I have passed up numerous shots because it didn't feel right to "take" them. There are times when taking a photograph of someone really is a"taking" of something from them.
This is one angle of American society that is neither seen nor broadcast in Hollywood products. Scenes like this is common In world's richest country (US of A). This social divided is sickening.
You have done well well my friend, great photograph. These people simply hate photographers for a right reason. I have a fellow Aminus3 buddy, you should see his pictures from Los Angeles poorest neighborhood (Skid Row).
http://skidrowportrait.aminus3.com/
18 Sep 2007 10:38pm
@Amir: I looked through his photos and left several comments. I found it very interesting that he has very few public comments but says he's gotten a lot of email. Wow. I thought I was afraid with all the new "freedom," but I guess there are a lot of people who don't want to speak up in public. I used to express myself freely, but these days I too have been learning to keep my mouth shut --most of the time.
Good luck my friend.
19 Sep 2007 5:35pm
@Amir: Thank you.
Oops.
19 Sep 2007 10:47pm
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