Homeless Man Who Got Free Boots From Cop Now 'Wants His Cut' Of YouTube Attention
from the everyone-wants-a-cut dept
Ah, this is what you get when you build up ideas around the idea that every bit of content must be "owned." You may have heard the somewhat heartwarming story last week of NYPD Officer Lawrence DePrimo, seeing a homeless man in NYC without any shoes on, buying the man some boots and giving them to him. Without either man being aware of it, a tourist from Arizona, Jennifer Foster, saw this happening and took a photo of the situation.
That said, a reporter for the NY Times caught up with the homeless man in question, Jeffrey Hillman, who hasn't received quite as much attention, only to find that he's barefoot again, saying that the boots were now hidden for his own safety:
"Those shoes are hidden. They are worth a lot of money," Mr. Hillman said in an interview on Broadway in the 70s. "I could lose my life."From the interview, it appears that Mr. Hillman -- who has been homeless for many years -- may have plenty of other problems as well. However, in a moment of clarity... he put forth the kind of statement we're used to hearing all the time around here:
"I was put on YouTube, I was put on everything without permission. What do I get?" he said. "This went around the world, and I want a piece of the pie."This is what you get, folks, in a world where you tell everyone that idea, concept, image, etc. must be "owned."
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Filed Under: homeless man, ownership society, youtube
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Response to: Atkray on Dec 4th, 2012 @ 7:09am
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Response
You got a pair of FREE BOOTS YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!!
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Exactly. Why is it that we live in a world where even people without anything aren't satisfied with someone helping them a bit. Obviously the officer didn't do this for the attention....
This is one of many reasons why it is so hard to stop and give a dollar to the people on the corner "in need" of it.
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That's right. Fuck you, homeless person. Get back in your box and shut the fuck up. Only Silicon Valley tycoons matter in this world. The homeless can go fuck themselves. Don't they fucking know that the word "property" was set in stone 300 years ago? What fucking idiots. Stupid fucking homeless scum.
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His post, is simply saying in response to the guy's statement about pie, that he did get a piece of the pie--he got shoes.
Since we're throwing around stawmen here, you obviously believe the homeless guy got shafted. Exactly what do you think the guy should get?
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I once had a really nice bike that I no longer used, had it for many many years, and a druggie that I knew bought it for me, and I sold it to him for way under what it was worth. I felt bad for him, he was talking about how he needed a new bike. Next thing I know he sold that bike for more than I sold it to him, used some of the money to buy a very cheap bike (that quickly broke), and who knows what he did with the rest of the money (drugs?). He said he needed the money ... he likely saw the bike as an opportunity to buy drugs. BTW, I never offered to sell the bike, he asked me several times if I used it and if he can buy it and I eventually sold it to him.
You have to be careful with druggies. You give the money, they'll buy drugs. You give them stuff, they'll sell it for whatever they can get (way below what it's worth if necessary) to get drugs with. If you think otherwise, I'm sorry, you are naive.
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Good boots are nice to walk in and keep your feet warm and dry. They don't have to cost 100 bucks. People on the street (from druggies to hookers to the homeless) are killed EVERY DAY for way less than 100 bucks or an item of approaching value that can be hocked/fenced/whatever.
I thought a cop would know...
(and I'm not giving him flak for being a good samaritan, it's just that 'well meant' and 'well done' are often diametrically opposed.)
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I think it's working great. I got quite a laugh at the attempt to post something so despicable, anonymously, yet so recognizable.
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By the way, your comments about Mike Mansick make me think you're either schilling for a rival blog post, an absolute failure of a troll, or both...just lay low and cool it. Mike isn't the only one asking "WTF??" to Hillman's response.
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I always love how a critic is by definition someone who didn't do it.
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This is what is so frustrating--you can't (and shouldn't) ignore them, but helping is not at all trivial. Money is unengaging and generally creates different problems, bringing them home is risky, giving them things is inflexible and may put them at risk, etc.
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planted in order to create a copyright lawsuit. When someone becomes the recipient of a generous gift, when they had nothing before, the proper thing to do would be to say "thank you, I'm grateful for the attention" not "what do I get".
This just shows just how entitled everybody thinks they are and we live in a society where it's "sue everybody and let the judges sort it out".
Ungrateful slob, if he's so concerned about his entitlement, then give back the shoes that he was given.
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Jackass.
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Hey fuck you, man. And fuck this lazy bum asshole homeless shitbag who is just a victim of the "intellectual pooperty" culture. He should like living in a box, and shouldn't try and do anything to improve his life. YouTube should make all the money off the page views. Let this guy eat of trashcans while Mike's tech buddies eat caviar in their jets. Fuck this guy for trying to rape the internet for his own self interested bullshit. Tech uber alles. Fuck the poor people. The internet cannot be owned. The meaning of the word "property" has not changed in 300 years. Somebody needs to explain that to the fucking homeless.
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How about showing how the fuck he is trying to improve his life and I might give a damn. All he is doing is bitching that he is not getting more handouts. He got semi famous for someone giving him something and now he is bitching "hey, why is no one giving me more"
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Don't bother, that's AJ losing his mind. Anytime you see a reference to his false 300 years property claim, just move on. He'll likely reply to me here, and you'll note that I will not engage. Completely devoid of any substance, AJ is now on par with ootb....
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Well, besides the "completely devoid of any substance" thing, he's not on par with ootb.
He's literally gone off the deep end. If Techdirt were a store and we were all employees/customers, AJ, based on his current behavior, would be the guy who just flipped out for no reason whatsoever and started firing away at everyone in the store with an AK.
OotB would be the guy standing outside the store ranting and raving about how the store is horrible and full of shoddy merchandise, which he can't help but purchase every day to prove his point while pointing at it and going, "See! See! It's crap! Pure crap that supports big corporations and is funneling money towards the rich! Rabble rabble rabble. I am going to buy more of this crap from this crap store to prove my point about how evil it is!"
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Yes, all culture is under attack. Intellectual pooperty is to blame. Everyone thinking that they should get a piece of the action when other people profit off of them without recompense. We can use you to profit and you'll like it. We are the internet generation, douchebag. Deal with it. The internet and my Silicon Valley friends insist that content should be free. You can't own anything because the meaning of "property" froze 300 years ago. You've just been brainwashed by the cartels into thinking that you should have any property rights in the things you spend time, energy, money, and self creating for the enjoyment of others.
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Ooh! Can I use "intellectual pooperty?" I like the sound of it!
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http://ninapaley.com/mimiandeunice/2010/07/30/intellectual-pooperty/
proving the point that it really is pooperty.
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Something to remember about our homeless...
At least give him the benefit of the doubt that he might not be a fully functional adult.
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\troll
How did I do?
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$10 says he hocked the boots
Right. Hidden at the pawn shop.
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"What do I get?"
You answered your own question there, I think, and the article suggests that's not the only free pair of shoes you got for merely sitting on a pavement and looking needy.
Not to sound heartless, but he might want to consider why his response to basic charity being "I want more" is possibly part of the reason why he's in his position to begin with (although, yes, I understand that most long-term homeless people have greater problems including mental issues).
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Also good idea, just telling the homeless man to sell them someplace like ebay. I'm sure if he just uses his digital camera to get a picture of them and uploads the photos to the internet with his computer and then pays money to ship them someplace, everything will just be swell and peachy for him, right?
In short: You aren't just being heartless, you're being ignorant.
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Oh, so you're snooty AND a collectivist.
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Re: Oh, so you're snooty AND a collectivist.
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Re: Oh, so you're snooty AND a collectivist.
Then commenting on the fact that we've reached such a level of insanity regarding copyright that a homeless person on the street is misinformed/misguided in his understanding that just because someone puts a video online in which you appear you are entitled to monetary compensation by default.
You're such an idiot it's hard to believe you function at all. I mean that.
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The John Steele's of the world: pay attention. This is going to be you one day.
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... I spend too much time online.
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Response to: average_joe on Dec 4th, 2012 @ 8:54am
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Homeless man is also apparently not homeless....
Apparently he has an apartment in the Bronx.
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Shut the trolls up!
I guess that's their goal - make the discussion climate so hostile that everyone goes away and Techdirt loses it's influence.
I just can't believe their sad lives are so full of hate.
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Re: Shut the trolls up!
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I propose that when a thread is reported everything below that is hidden as well. People can still open it and rifle through it if they want.
Second, please just don't even bother to reply to OOTB etal EVER! If they never get a reply and their posts are always buried sooner or later they will realize how meaningless their posts are.
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Re: Re: Shut the trolls up!
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Chose to be homeless.
He's made a choice to stay homeless, in spite of the opportunities offered to him.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/homeless-man-boots-shoeless-article-1.1212149
" Hillman told the newspaper he was from South Plainfield, N.J., and joined the Army in 1978, serving as “food service specialist” for five years before he was honorably discharged. He also said he’s the father of two grown children — Nikita, 22, and Jeffrey, 24.
“We love our brother very much,” Hillman’s brother, Kirk, of Nazareth, Pa., told the Daily News Sunday, adding that he was surprised to see his brother in the newspaper. “Our door is always open to him, but this is a lifestyle he’s chosen.”"
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Re: Chose to be homeless.
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Thanks, Reagan.
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The sad fact is that the first world's mental health system is dismal, perhaps most so in the US where the majority of it is unofficially palmed off on the prison system. Which is not to say that asylums pre-deregulation were any better -- it's just that the new asylums are prisons and the streets. And even if someone is lucky enough to a) have a manageable condition and b) get treatment, the treatment consists of expensive dependence-forming drugs that they will likely require for the rest of their lives (which they have to take responsibly despite frequently having no social support structure and a predilection towards substance abuse)
It's a bad, bad situation.
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The problem is that the mental health system in the US is on a State to State basis. I for one live in Ohio and am proud of the fact that my state was not only the first to implement the public school system as we know it, but also among the first to have programs getting mentally ill people viable jobs. I think that the biggest problem we have now is that we are spending too much time worrying about treatment and not enough on getting these people jobs so they have the freedom (though some with a bit of supervision)that the rest of us take for granted.
I just wish the nation would wake up some day and realize how many people go untreated for their illness and get sent to a psych ward when a lot of times it isn't needed. That sort of strikes a nerve in me when that happens.
Just a bit of proof as to the reason it is state to state, one only has to look at Texas. Nobody turns a goddamned head when disabled people get beaten up.
When I was in the US third grade. We had an entire science unit on disabilities and how they effect people. Trust me, it was an eye opener.
As for the Article in regards to the homeless:
Hillman's reaction is only natural. After years of being practically ignored by the public, it took a public servant to lift his spirits for a time. It isn't any wonder that he wants more attention after being deprived of care from others for so long.
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"Berenerd (profile), Dec 4th, 2012 @ 9:00am
Homeless man is also apparently not homeless....
http://todaynews.today.com/_news/2012/12/04/15672901-still-shoeless-man-in-viral-pho to-not-homeless- officials-say?lite
Apparently he has an apartment in the Bronx."
That is exactly why I never give to panhandlers. As often as not those pan handling do have a roof over their head and do eat. They choose this as a way to make money.
I will gladly feed the poor and homeless, most of the ones I have dealt with, don't ask for anything, many are suspicious of strangers and truly grateful for food or clothing.
Those panhandling on the other hand, rarely are as needy as you might think. Ever offer to feed one? They will ask you for money instead (and often cuss you out if you refuse).
As for the mentally ill there is help, but many refuse to take it, because they don't want to follow rules...
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Re: Chose to be homeless.
That said, i have heard this (owning a house/car) about several homeless people in the towns I've lived in over the years. Probably something like 10 years ago, i heard that a homeless person in NYC could make about $40-$50k annually from panhandling. A low salary for NYC but considering that's all tax free, enough for a decent living. I have no facts to back up the claim but i can believe its at least possible.
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Re: Chose to be homeless.
http://www.newser.com/story/158707/barefoot-nyc-man-isnt-homeless.html
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Re: Chose to be homeless.
Somehow I can't buy the argument that this is what he 'chose' to do. Or that I should somehow be disgusted that he has chosen to do it.
It seems to me that there are much bigger crooks and criminals in this story than what we've been led to believe.
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You know, the usual suspects.
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Eagle
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Re: Eagle
I would have every reason to be extremely pissed off if the only way the whole world felt they could pull me from the gutter is to give me a new pair of boots.
Maybe he's just getting pissed off the wrong way at the wrong people.
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Not saying that your job isn't to point out the ownership mentality, but maybe one of the root causes of the ownership mentality is how people refuse to accept that there are repercussions for themselves and their acceptance of their shallow self-centric worldview.
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Out of Context
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Public area
And because of that, you are entitled to zero compensation.
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Your conclusion is backwards
This is the kind of mental competence you need to have to believe that every idea, concept, image, etc. must be owned.
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Not an appropriate comparison
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Did he report the $100 boots to his welfare worker?
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Homeless Guy had his own apt and SSI check income!
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Re: Homeless Guy had his own apt and SSI check income!
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What Is Wrong With You People
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Translation.
I'll settle for a pint.
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Homeless
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Look at the homeless mans point of view
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cop looking for his 15 minutes of fame!
2nd, don't give things assuming someone wants it. (he didn't)
3rd, the guy is a vet, has a regular vet income, an apartment, and doesnt need shoes.
4th, the cop posed for photos and did interviews. BAD, just bad.
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