Needs to do Better Itself
Cristal M Clark
Last week one of my readers wrote into me about the Social Media account DoBetterDnvr, the account which was launched in June 2021, was originally run by a number of “admins” using different IG handles, including @DenverDeservesBetter, @SaveDNVRnow and @DumpsterFireDenverThe account was launched in June 2021, according to the @DoBetterDNVR founder, and originally run by a number of “admins” using different IG handles, including @DenverDeservesBetter, @SaveDNVRnow and @SaveDNVRnow Now I believe it’s only one or two women who run it.
What outraged my reader and according to local media outlets here in Denver is that the account seems to make fun of Denver’s homeless, they are basically going around taking pictures of things they see and posting it to social media under the guise of trying to help Denver clean up.
The reality of that is, these women are hiding behind user names posting and saying things that they shouldn’t. I don’t think anyone would care if they were not hiding behind a computer screen but here we are.
I also don’t believe it is fair to our cities down and out to be utilising images of them so down and out, it is cruel and heartless. My reader expressed outrage at what these women are doing simply because they are hiding behind social media to exploit our cities homeless and drug addicted individuals. And no matter how you try to paint that picture that is precisely what they are doing.
They repost DPD warnings, announcements and will ask them what is going on, DPD answers and they call that them getting news and bringing it to the public, the same thing you or might do ourselves.
I’ve seen the groups X account and to me it’s no different that the FaceBook Group, “The Shit You See on Colfax.” It’s exploitation at its finest. On the FaceBook users have posted dead bodies before, people who are clearly mentally unstable, half dressed or naked homeless individuals, people fighting, you name it, it’s posted to the group. Most people follow the group for news about traffic, and to make fun of the homeless and drug addicts here in town. It’s pretty much a shit show if you know what I mean.
Now DoBetterDnvr knows that what they are doing is not liked by many, regardless of how many users it has following them, the dirty little tit for tat they don’t tell you is that most people are following them because they find the posts to be an attempt at poking fun at our cities problems. It is the very same reason people follow the FaceBook Group, one very human thing that we all do, we tend to laugh at others pain, suffering and misery. Someone trips and falls people laugh, someone drops a fresh cup of coffee right after walking out of the coffee shop, people laugh, someone is high and cannot control themselves and start taking off their clothes, people laugh.
The group would deny this of course, they want followers to believe that they are trying to get people talking, and get people to do something that actually works. There is a right way to go about doing that and a wrong way. Exploiting people is not the way. They believe that Mayor Mike Johnston is bankrupting the city, and while the group has a point, it’s best to make that point in more constructive ways. Hiding who you are is not going to gain you the road in which you would need paved to see change.
I agree that our cities issues with homelessness is not being properly addressed by the city or the Mayor and to be honest the Mayor is quickly learning the hard way that you can’t just offer up a hotel to drug addicts without structure, rules or a system in place that would allow for them to get clean. Then you have those that simply don’t want to get clean and abide by rules, laws, structure, then you have a bunch of homeless folks that have mental issues, some that don’t want to work full time and who do prefer the freedom of being homeless. The issues are many, but this group is calling it drugs for the most part.
I also do not agree with very many homeless advocates, I think they are bleeding hearts who just want to see people in homes, given money, benefits and they don’t want to see help in the way that it should be given, forced treatment if necessary, jail for some, and a pathway out of being homeless.
Yesterday I wrote about someone who was recently released from jail who has been trying to obtain housing for over two years, he is homeless, he told me that one of his cellmates called the cities Coalition for the Homeless and had been told he gets a free apartment for life because he has done the full tour (Jail/Prison/Parole/Probation), more than once and they told him they don’t care if he is on drugs.
Now is that help or is that a handout? Is that not supporting habits, bad ones at that at the hands of grants, federal funds and donations?
Now that is one thing our Mayor is doing and that is why he and his team are failing, they will not properly address the issues our homeless are facing so all of this housing, allowances and public assistance is a waste for many unless the city can offer some form of rehabilitation for those that are housed which the city is not currently doing. Many of these places are also not as safe as the public might think, the one hotel where two people were murdered, the drug use is happening at these hotels, encampments and mini communities the city is hosting. Don’t get me started on neighbourhoods and businesses near any of the city run housing for our homeless, it’s a joke, people both on the outside and the inside feel unsafe.
Throwing money and housing at a problem is not addressing the issues in any way, shape or form, the city also needs to take a much harder look at housing costs for the middle class and address this issue as well. Nor is giving more housing and assistance to illegal immigrants and that by far has pissed off a lot of people.
See @DoBetterDnvr, you could just say all of that without exploiting the venerable on Social Media, by doing that you are just the same as any other Social Media group who does it. Your message gets lost and at some point people stop even looking at what you post because they get tired of laughing at those who are down and out.
Cristal M Clark
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