93 Year Old WWII Vet Freezes to Death at Home...

[dmg1969]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

You can't be serious. We are about to enter the largest age of what is good for the greater masses and not for the individual. Those on the margins of the bell curve will be left off by design. Better get use to it.

I hope I'm not on the margain. Although I do feel margainilized much of the time.

[sweetwater]

If he had a working telephone then he need not have gone without power. The media loves this type of story, and they would have kept the power on. It is a sad story but I'm not going to condemn the utility company unless more damning evidence comes to light. And btw, if I cannot afford electricity, please freeze me in winter rather than cutting off the A/C in summer, okay? Thank you!

[piercehawkeye45]

I wouldn't be surprised if this article had a lot of spin to it since a lot of information was left out. There should have been some contact between the power company and the WWII Vet though, that was a very large mistake (unless that was not included in the article).

TheMercenary, from the picture it looks like he lived in a low density neighborhood. But that could mean anything and that "neighbors should watch neighbors" is a bad argument.

[Flint]

What if we had to chop firewood to survive?

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

TheMercenary, from the picture it looks like he lived in a low density neighborhood. But that could mean anything and that "neighbors should watch neighbors" is a bad argument.

I didn't say that they should and that was not an arguement I made. What I said was:

there is the assumption that someone else is always doing the thing that you considered doing yourself, like checking in on the old guy from time to time.

[piercehawkeye45]

My wording was bad. I was commenting on the article making the "neighbors should watch neighbors" argument. The only thing I meant to reference to you is the low density neighborhood part.

[Aliantha]

And what if he was a very grumpy, irritating and disagreeable old man? If a person has no one in their lives to turn to in times of trouble, chances are they fit the above description.

Maybe he gave the utilities company a serve when he got his overdue notice? Maybe he has a history of not paying bills?

If the utilities company followed normal proceedures, then they've done nothing wrong, particularly if this is an isolated case, which it appears to be. Why blame big business for doing what's considered normal? That being, user pays policies. If you don't pay, you don't get.

[monster]

And while we discussed this, how many homeless Americans froze to death on the streets? Perhaps even War vets? Who "should" have looked out for them?

[piercehawkeye45]

Obama!

[monster]

but they aren't more important than the 93yo, so how come obama is not responsible for him too?

[piercehawkeye45]

Who said he wasn't?



To be serous. In the way that our social structure is set up, very nomadic and not very communal, it becomes very tough for people who can not look out for themselves. In other cultures, this person would be living with family and try to find of a homeless Somali.

Point is that our way of life has both positive and negative aspects. This is one negative aspect and when we live in a society that does not have many safety nets for the old and alone, incidents like this will happen. It is sad and I believe we should work to avoid these situations on a reasonable level, but unless we decide to change our culture altogether, events like these are inevitable.

[Undertoad]

Maybe the dude didn't have anybody to look after him because he was a prick.

Come on, it's possible

[Aliantha]

Yes, but do pricks deserve to freeze to death?

[monster]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

In other cultures, this person would be living with family and try to find of a homeless Somali..

eh?

I ran this through babelfish and it didn't make sense in any language.

[piercehawkeye45]

Originally Posted by monster

eh?

I ran this through babelfish and it didn't make sense in any language.

It is extremely rare to find a homeless Somali because mosques will provide shelter for any Muslim. Our culture doesn't provide as much shelter for the homeless as different cultures do (in reasonable amounts of course). Since our culture differs in this way, one negative aspect is that people can easily get left out in the cold.

The point is that very few resources go into taking care of the homeless because of how our culture works. The same can be said about 93 year old men, especially if they are old pricks.