Thursday, November 15, 2012

The People Vs. Funkbot


If you want to read the article that Camille sent me and is being referenced in this blog click this link.

Camille: I'm really happy I found this article because it brings up a super important topic that I don't think people really talk about, which is how a person's personal rights fit into a greater society.

I'm absolutely, totally, 100% with this funkbot man. He should be able to not bathe, wear smelly clothes and have a bird's nest on his head. That is his right. But knowing he stinks, he should respect other people. He had all that money, why didn't he just buy a house where the walls or ventilation systems weren't connected to anyone else's?

Dante: Why are the people that are complaining being forced to deal with what one person, the realtor or whoever, made? I’m sorry but this guy is an asshole. I don’t care how normal he sounds and how once you get to know him he isn’t so bad. He sued the fucking MTA because they wouldn’t let him get on because of his look and smell. I wish buses did that more often! Am I supposed to be like “Oh, he is so well spoken and breaks the mold of what a hobo looks and acts like”? No. This guy is a selfish prick.

Let’s say you get $200,000. Why in the hell would you move to an expensive Downtown Los Angeles loft? We’ve talked about it being a nice place to visit but you wouldn’t want to live there. And why still have bags of garbage? You have a house now. Why all the bottles and cans? Recycling? Okay. Recycle it. Don’t use your house as a shopping cart. I know they’re trying to paint this guy sympathetically but he comes across as a dick to me.

Actual image of his place.

Camille: I actually thought the article took a couple of turns in and out of his favor. I think at the beginning it made funkbot man seem like an intelligent, articulate, bum who just wants to live free. Then it turned and made him sound childish and ridiculous: How stupid of him to think he could just move into an apartment with a bathtub, washing machine and running water and that no one would expect him to clean himself up. Duh! That's why they let him sign the lease! They saw he had money, they thought all he wanted was a nice tub to wash in and he'll start smelling better.

Then finally the article slams the fact of how he got the money on the table like a dominoes player. To me, that says, that he already knew that he was going to get treated like a stinky bum. That's why he moved into a downtown loft. He knew he was going to get treated the same way the MTA and everyone else treats him. You can't act like an outlier and get mad when society treats you differently.

Why have all the bags in your apartment? Because you've got a mental problem. I don't know what it is, but even if he doesn't need to be committed, he does need to admit there's an issue there and to live accordingly. Namely, in a house that is far away from the neighbors. Sounds like he would be gung-ho to start farming a small plot of land.

Moments after signing his lease.

Dante: I too believe that they just saw dollar signs when he showed how much money he has. I mean, hell, he shops at Whole Foods! To me that place is the perfect example of “I have a lot of extra money.“ The lines about not being able to bathe because of a condition just makes a lot of questions. A surgery that he had in the past also. Your statement about how he got the money being like a dominoes player is perfect. Hey, I scratched my tattoo a few months back on a screw that was sticking out of a seat. Am I entitled to a few hundred grand? I’m not kidding. That really happened to me.

If you have that much money, enough to go to lunch and have the cab driver chill with you with the meter running, then you have enough to get out of a place that hates you. In life we have to take a stand for something. This stand sucks. I think he just wants some more money from the apartment for making his life so difficult…by wanting him to not stink.

Camille: I have two words for this dude: Baking Soda. Could've solved all his problems if used properly. He can even buy the organic kind from Whole Foods.

Which is a good idea. Or meth. Either way...your cookies will rock!

Dante: Is there such a thing as organic baking soda? I thought organic meant, like, naturalicious. I don’t think I can go and dig up a baking soda tree. That would be weird.

Also weird? Steven Seagal's reaction to homeless on on-ramps.

2 comments:

Hoozle said...

I do feel sorry for him, I think he's a bit touched in the head. He's not living like this out of some kind of ethical hippy-ish I-stick-for-liberty choice, I think he has weird compulsions and phobias he can't understand or control. Poor sod.

Dante said...

People I have talked to about this go from being sad for him to annoyed to outraged to sad again. It seems pretty obvious that he has some mental issues going on. Its also obvious that he can pay for some sort of treatment. I feel that when he finally wastes the last of his money that he'll try riding another bus and getting more settlement money.