

Show HN: HoboJacket, want to see hobos clad in your rival school's jackets? - jinpan
http://www.hobojacket.tk

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mapster
I can't believe the level of elitism and immaturity that this idea represents.
Firstly, homeless are not hobos. Second, you want to give homeless jackets of
rivals - why? Because you want to laugh at them. How elitist. An MIT project
you say?

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jinpan
Yes, this does represent a certain level of immaturity. The idea behind this
originated as a prank, but it was meant to be a harmless one. We didn't want
to dance around being politically correct so we broke some social norms.

However, we are not giving the homeless jackets because we want to laugh at
them. We are trying to put a spin on the gamification of charity to see if we
can get people to do more than they would otherwise.

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richo
While I applaud clothing the homeless, this kinda struck me as in poor taste
(mainly the rival school part).. but in saying that I never went through the
US college system so maybe I'm missing some vital context.

It seems tacky, tbh: but if it puts jackets on backs then I'm all for it.

~~~
jinpan
Well, you have this enormous amount of energy in the form of college rivalries
going towards (in my opinion) a relatively silly ball game. Our hypothesis is
that if you could tap just 1% of that energy, you could accomplish something
great. This is our first foray into tapping that intensity.

~~~
bradleyland
Ever heard the aphorism, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"?
Your intent is to tap a negative to achieve a positive. Unfortunately, you
also reinforce a negative.

Clothing a homeless individual with a rival's garb as a means to insult one's
rival reinforces the idea that it is ok to use a homeless person as an
instrument of insult. It is not. It is dehumanizing, and treads dangerously
close to the line of thinking that leads to projects like Bum Fights [1].

1 - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bum_fights>

~~~
jinpan
It is certainly not our hope that people use this as an avenue to dehumanize
the unfortunate.

But is it more acceptable to see the unfortunate clearly wearing thin clothing
when it's 20 degrees out and maintain the idea that they are people who must
maintain their pride, or offer them the chance to sell out? It's a hard
question to answer, but I think society has already answered that for us. Fast
food restaurants already offer young professionals a chance to sell out by
offering higher wages than many starting jobs in alternative industries [1].

1 - [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/magazine/skills-dont-
pay-t...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/magazine/skills-dont-pay-the-
bills.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)

~~~
bradleyland
> It is certainly not our hope that people use this as an avenue to dehumanize
> the unfortunate.

There is no way to use a homeless person as a prop that doesn't dehumanize
them.

> But is it more acceptable to see the unfortunate clearly wearing thin
> clothing when it's 20 degrees out and maintain the idea that they are people
> who must maintain their pride, or offer them the chance to sell out?

I wholely reject this line of thinking. Doing one thing right does not absolve
a wrong. By that line of reasoning, the people in the Bum Fights videos were
better off, because they were paid. Net positive, am I right!?

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dgabriel
This is a really terrible idea. It's not so much "edgy," as heartbreaking.
Instead of mocking them, perhaps you can contact any of these Cambridge
organizations and do something less dehumanizing that might actually be
helpful:

<http://www.horizonsforhomelesschildren.org/> <http://sparechangenews.net/>
[http://www.ci.cambridge.ma.us/DHSP/programsforadults/multise...](http://www.ci.cambridge.ma.us/DHSP/programsforadults/multiservicecenterforthehomeless/mscprograms.aspx)

~~~
jinpan
Yes, I agree this is a terrible idea in some respects, and we're not certain
if we're set on actually donating the jackets. One route we're actively
considering is contacting the donors and asking them if they're open to the
possibility of us directly giving the funds towards more traditional
nonprofits, and refunding those against the idea.

~~~
dgabriel
I hope you have the empathy to understand how terrible this idea is.
Seriously, <3

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antihero
Why not clothe Hobos in your own school's jackets? People should be proud of
helping people.

~~~
IsaacL
This idea makes a lot more sense to me.

