

Silicon Valley’s forgotten poor find an unlikely hero - creamyhorror
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/08/silicon-valley-forgotten-poor-unlikely-hero-greg-gopman

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SwellJoe
"Hero"? There are people who have been working for years, _decades_ even, on
the homelessness and poverty problem in the valley. Those are the heroes. This
is a guy who likes being in the spotlight, and has been out of it for too long
since being ousted from his company.

If he's sincere, he'll get in there and do the real work, and won't pretend
that giving talks at a tennis club is helping the disenfranchised. I have
serious doubts he even understands what questions to ask yet, much less what
the answers are. Homelessness, poverty, addiction, mental illness, are
incredibly complex topics.

I've been involved (not on a daily basis, but with some regularity) in a
variety of on-the-ground activism and volunteer work for the homeless in
Austin for about three years now. I don't even begin to presume I know how to
solve the underlying problems. But, I know how to make a meal and serve it, so
I've done that a bunch. I know how to drive someone to an appointment or to
their safe sleeping spot, so I've done that a bunch. I know how to talk to
city council members, so I've done that. And, I'm white and middle class, so I
can run interference with police when they're being assholes to homeless
folks, so I've done that. None of those things gets you profiled in the
Guardian, but they actually help a real live person make it through another
day.

I have significant doubts about the sincerity of his change of heart, and I
have even more significant doubts about the impact he will make...I fear he
may redirect resources from good programs into programs that are poorly
thought out based on a poor understanding of what the problems are and how to
remedy them.

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yitchelle
Tend to agree with you. A real hero is someone like Bill Gates where he puts
his money into his philanthropic activities to better the world.
Unfortunately, homeless is not yet on his radar.

