Texas State Capitol
Dismissive & Dehumanizing
RECEIVED Tue., Feb. 7, 2017
Dear Editor,
I was shocked by the dismissive, dehumanizing tone of your cover story on homelessness Downtown [“It's Like a Jungle Sometimes,” News, Feb. 3]. The article talks about homeless people as if they are wild animals or objects, certainly not human beings who might actually be able to answer some of the questions freely speculated about in the piece. The article actually uses the word “homeless” as a noun, subsuming people within this one aspect of their current circumstances (“Putting homeless in jail for …,” p.22). The pictures showing homeless people are all from behind or in the distance so that we cannot see their faces, painting them again as just props.
The article does not even pay lip service to the fact that it is homeless people themselves who are most affected by homelessness, instead painting them as merely a threatening backdrop the rest of us must somehow cope with. The author shares the perspective of only one person who works with homeless people, and does not interview any homeless people at all. Instead, he reports opinions about who the “problem” people are and why they may or may not be receiving services as if they were facts. The factual information that is provided is sparse and only loosely tied to the conclusions drawn or hinted at.
This article dehumanizes a vulnerable population and is just plain bad journalism.
I was shocked by the dismissive, dehumanizing tone of your cover story on homelessness Downtown [“It's Like a Jungle Sometimes,” News, Feb. 3]. The article talks about homeless people as if they are wild animals or objects, certainly not human beings who might actually be able to answer some of the questions freely speculated about in the piece. The article actually uses the word “homeless” as a noun, subsuming people within this one aspect of their current circumstances (“Putting homeless in jail for …,” p.22). The pictures showing homeless people are all from behind or in the distance so that we cannot see their faces, painting them again as just props.
The article does not even pay lip service to the fact that it is homeless people themselves who are most affected by homelessness, instead painting them as merely a threatening backdrop the rest of us must somehow cope with. The author shares the perspective of only one person who works with homeless people, and does not interview any homeless people at all. Instead, he reports opinions about who the “problem” people are and why they may or may not be receiving services as if they were facts. The factual information that is provided is sparse and only loosely tied to the conclusions drawn or hinted at.
This article dehumanizes a vulnerable population and is just plain bad journalism.
Emily Miller