ableism, classism, xenophobia
today there was some old German dude filming a homeless man who was asking for donations with a very shaky leg on a walking aid. I was talking to someone but I noticed this and thought: this guy is going to post that man and say it's a scam.
I was immediately proved right because the dude just walked up to the man and started talking to people giving him coins, saying that this was a lie, that he saw the man in city X, he's not really disabled. the man said like, why are you doing this, you are a bad man and bad things will come to you. I took way too long to react but fight mode finally kicked in so I went position myself between the two and tell the German to fuck off. he started with the accusations again and I was like, no one asked you go away, nobody cares.
then he threw the "sprich Deutsch!" at me, which I countered with my go-to reply, "nah kein Deutsch, 's gibt zu viel Deutsch in diesem Scheißland", which is something I designed to be intensely triggering for that type of person. someone with me reinforced it by going off at him in a third language. the dude was livid as intended and started complaining to passersby about being belästigt, but—at this point he had been harassing a homeless man of colour, bothering people trying to give him coins, and shouting at a queer-coded woman (me), so that was like, not a good look?? so the onlookers started to gather and tell him off too, so the guy finally fucked off.
the man (who didn't speak German, we talked in English) seemed more sad than scared or shaken, and said he doesn't understand why people do those things. I said, "because he's a fascist".
re: ableism, classism, xenophobia
the bit of nuance that's impossible to convey to a fascist is that yes, there's a good chance the man was acting out his own disability by intentionally shaking his leg or otherwise being theatrical and making it very visible. on account of that bringing in coins. because he's homeless. if you were desperate enough for money to decide you have to go stand in the 30°+ sun and beg coins from passersby, you probably would also develop a few tricks here and there to have enough cash for a meal the end of the day.
it's the same thing when I give a few bucks with someone who comes with a sob story about needing to back home or something, and my bourgie friends go like, that was probably a lie. yes I *know*. I'm South American, this isn't my first sob story. if the person is reduced to lying to people at the train station for a few coins they are clearly much worse in life than me, who earn thousands of euros to type letters at a computer in my own home. this is fundamentally unfair and sharing a few bucks is, if anything, way too little reparations for the unfairness that saves me from having to lie at people for cash.
but I find it very difficult to explain this to people who never had a taste of poverty, of the things it does to your mind.
re: ableism, classism, xenophobia
@lyncia yeah