I hate the word ‘Consumer’ or I mockingly call it ‘CONSOOMER’. Because that’s to imply everyone in the world is just cattle, but with wallets. We’re no longer customers. We’re consumers now. And a consumer’s purpose is to consume shit, whatever is put out there. Got money? Shut up and consume, it’s what corporate interests and capitalism itself thrive on. Consume and consume.
except that you can have a home without having a house, so “houselessness” would be more accurate with that logic
I guess that’s true, though the biggest problem homeless people have is typically lacking a home. It feels a little off to me to describe someone who feels at home living itinerantly as homeless.
I feel like “houseless” is mostly a PR stunt by outreach groups to migrate to a word with less negative connotations, which I can support on its own. But I totally agree with you semantically. To me, and probably to most, a home is a place where you feel comfortable. A place that can reliably shelter you, that you can return to at any point and feel safe. What homeless people lack is not simply a generic shelter, as ‘houseless’ implies, but a place where they can exist, reliably, without fear. Shelters have a capacity, overpasses have cops, everywhere has thieves. Saying “home is where the heart is” is ridiculously insensitive to the struggles they face. I feel like it’s more empathetic to acknowledge that what they are lacking is fundamental safety.
Excellent points.