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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   35342 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 26, 2022

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I like the new euphemism treadmill phrasing: "our unhoused residents". If they're unhoused, where are they residing? In their cars? In encampments? Under bridges?

In the "community". The idea is to imply they have as much claim on being the members of the "community" as you do, and the fact that you have a home, pay taxes, contribute to maintaining infrastructure, etc. while they do drugs, defecate on the street and turn sidewalks into dumps - is a pure coincidence, and with correct redistribution of resources from you to them it all can be fixed. Usually this claim is advanced by people who hope to do the redistribution of resources.

I wonder if euphemism treadmills only appear in situations where there's some group or concept that some power-that-be is trying to rehabilitate in the eyes of the public, but the public isn't so easily swayed by a mere change of name. Perhaps reflecting a belief by said power-that-be that the negative associations the public make with the group or concept are just a product of historical accident, and if we restart the system with a less-pejorative term, attitudes will be different.

Now, "only" is such a strong qualifier that I'm sure there have to be exceptions, but more than that I wonder if the "the name determines the views" belief has ever been historically borne out. I'd like to hear about any such cases.

This thread contains deleted comments so it might be hard to follow. You might find it interesting and relevant

Quite condescending as well.

"Homeless" gets the point across with laser precision, people who don't have homes. Often the physical and the metaphorical definition of a home.

"Unhoused" implies they don't have a literal home, but a car, a bridge or a park bench might be their "home". For they are unhoused but not homeless.

Way to cheapen the concept of a home.

It was my understanding that 'sleeps on a friend's couch' would be considered 'homeless' but not 'unhoused'.

That's the "sheltered" vs "unsheltered" distinction; "homeless" vs "unhoused" seems to be euphemism treadmill.

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