Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Philly.com Hates Homeless People

The Philly.com homepage is devoted to a non-story right now: homeless people.

Anyone who has lived here for at least a year knows that a) Philly has lots of homeless people, and b) there always seem to be more in the summertime, because the warm weather draws the homeless out of shelters and into the streets. This is nothing new, and I don't blame them for wanting to be outside, enjoying the warm months of the year like everyone else. But the great minds of our city's two major dailies, lacking anything more important to report, have apparently decided to try on a posture of cityphobic outrage this morning, with two stories, a poll, and a photo gallery (see the homeless in their native habitat!) devoted to understanding Our City's Homeless Scourge.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not exactly the world's most compassionate person when it comes to encountering homeless people - and no one should be doing it in Rittenhouse Square, homeless or not - but homeless people don't deserve the Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom treatment they're getting on Philly.com right now.

UPDATE: Perhaps I'm wrong here. Even Rittenhouse Square itself seems to hate homeless people. (hat tip to Philebrity)

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