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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   25074 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 17, 2025

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One of the things I was pretty interested in when visiting various less developed nations is that there was a surprising lack of visible homelessness. Example: Thailand. There were no homeless on the streets outside of extremely and visibly disabled people (missing arms/legs/eyes, severe mental disabilities, etc). I suppose it's easy to stay off the streets if you can just go buy some coconuts and sell the juice on the street without a gaggle of PMCs following you around issuing fines. The barrier to entry for commerce seemed to be minimal at the actual worst.

Now I look at the US with many of its large cities overrun with homeless encampments, hear about bullshit like some jurisdictions enforcing a "flower arrangement license" and it really makes me disgusted at the evil we have wrought.

In the third world the difference between countries with lots of homelessness and little homelessness is typically how easy it is to squat land around the cities. Even in the poorest places you won't see that many homeless people if anyone can go 20km in the direction of the poorest urban settlement and build a shack right after the last round of shacks. Much wealthier third world countries that restricts such settlement will have lots of visible homelessness.

is typically how easy it is to squat land around the cities

Note also that "squatting land and building a shack" is just a specific form of development in general; when the commons outside the city are enclosed (for reasons that are real- like lack of physical land or lack of accessible water- or fake like environmentalism or democratic capture), prices skyrocket.

Was in Bangkok a week ago and saw many homeless people, and several beggars who might or might not have also been homeless, including children. One man, as you say, was disabled and seemed to have had his hands removed or maybe they never developed, but most seemed relatively whole. This does not necessarily contradict your point, but even Japan, for example, has homeless people, and Osaka used to have fairly visible encampments around the castle until they were bussed out for the World Cup years ago--to who knows where. I've seen homeless people in most larger cities in Europe, in Harare, Bulawayo, Johannesburg, Durban, etc.

I saw a homeless beggar in China once. Two Chinese cops were standing over him and very kindly talking to him. Completely blocking his begging attempts. I didn't observe this for long, but I saw no one cross those two cops to give him money.

So I spent a solid chuck of time in Thailand and was struck by all the severely disabled people. This is approx 2008. I thought about giving them money because you can't fake missing all 10 fingers and open wounds. A bit of googling led me to news posts and forums alleging that these people are essentially slaves to the local mafia. They are bussed in to beg, and kept in a pitiful state to earn more.

a gaggle of PMCs following you around issuing fines

The people issuing fines for unlicensed flower arrangement are not, generally, PMCs. They’re florist shop owners.

American homeless aren't (generally) aspiring florists and coconut peddlers stymied by regulations, they are the people Thailand, at best, just lets die, and quite often executes.

Or pushes into places away from the tourists, Latin America style, to do drugs among themselves.

Thats death on a longer timeline, generally.

Flowers are an insane business, so it's flower wholesalers actually, usually as a way to protect their laundering operations. There are a couple of florists, but most florists are the female version of model train enthusiasts, and their shops act as tax write offs for their husbands.

Well sure, my point was that it was decidedly not-PMC business owners.

I know, I just know about that ridiculous industry so I wanted to build on your comment. I tried to write it so it would seem more like an addition than a correction, but I failed.

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