Food Is A Right, Not A Privilege, Orlando Riding The Failboat
Around 15 volunteers from the Orlando Foot Not Bombs chapter have been arrested for, oh my gosh hold your breath, feeding homeless people! I know, right? I love the Orlando chapter, because they are all smiling being walked away in handcuffs, those miscreants! Orlando doesn’t have anything more important to worry about, like a violent crime rate 4 times the national average. No, it’s those homeless people being fed within two miles of City Hall that pose the real threat. Look at them, so scary.
If you live in or outside of Orlando, feel free to sign this petition. Petitions are feel-good tactics, so feel good about it.
I don’t know about writing Orlando officials. The douche-canoes totally defended their law in court, because ZOMG HOMELESS PEOPLE EATING FOOD! It’s not murder that reduces tourism, it’s pancakes.They should do a billboard campaign with a picture of a pancake stabbing someone to death, then we’d all get their point and support Orlando city officials in the cause to get grits off the streets of Orlando!
Or start your own Food Not Bomb chapter and kick some butt with vegan/vegetarian food.
Stephanie Ernst
Marji
Kelly G.
Deb
Mary Martin
I live 30 miles from Orlando… But with Orlando’s “tourism first” mentality I often wish I was 3,000 miles away. I don’t think it’s unique to the rest of the country, but Florida has a huge homeless population. I’ve seen panhandlers resemble concentration camp prisoners. Literally bones held together by skin. And I know first hand, they are grateful for a loaf of bread.
To put restrictions as to where, when and how often it’s “legal” to feed the hungry is indefensible. But of course it’s this way for those unfortunate enough not to live in the “magic kingdom”. If I were spending tourist dollars, for this Food Not Bombs arrest and many other reasons, Central Florida would be the last place I’d spend my money or time.
Thanks for writing about this Marji – It’s a human rights issue that really should have gotten much more attention then what it did. It’s a sorry situation for sure.
Poor quality of writing aside, terms such as douche-canoe weaken any argument. It’s the language of patriarchal oppression. Not “cool tough talk,” not dark comedy. Kick ass with vegetarian food? With dairy, cheese and maybe “cagefree” eggs??! Dress up in a romaine lettuce bikini to promote vegan food while you’re at it. Lack of critical thinking = embarrassing, muddled messages the struggling animal rights movement doesn’t need. This blog has been compromised. Abandon ship. Or sinking canoe. Or mindless consumerism of vegan products and vegan dogma on blogs.
The subject of feeding homeless people is important. (Though actually feeding them is far more important.) If this was an opinion piece on your own blog, who cares. But when you represent the animals, the lack of critical thinking is harmful. The road to hell is paved with the well-meaning complicity of moderates.