Written by Sam Shetler.
“Would you cosplay being disabled to raise funds for a disability charity? No, you wouldn’t. People once thought this was fine but no longer. The #CEOSleepout should go in the dust bin of history as well.
Most of the folks pretending to be poor are the same people benefitting from the inequality baked into our taxation system, housing policies and so on.
In some of their cases, members of Business SA for example, they are actively pushing horrible policies making our class divided society even worse.
I think what bothers me most about Vinnies’ CEO Sleepout is that it is so clearly a public relations exercise whereby those who hold a disproportionate share of the blame for why taxes do not flow to public housing get to cosplay being someone without a home.
Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good people who volunteer on the night and people who are participating with good intentions. I’m not saying they are bad people or anything like that.
What I am saying, overall, is that the CEO Sleepout should go the way of its predecessors. We don’t see many fundraisers where people cosplay having physical disabilities anymore. I think that cosplaying being a rough sleeper should go the same way, extinction.
Folks are sleeping in overcrowded conditions, couches, cars, caravan parks, on my council’s doorstep because intentional explicit policy, in black and white. Folks are not homeless because of bad luck, bad character or not possessing financial management skills. Homelessness is a society-wide failure and some people are more responsible than others for the state of things.
These people, knowingly or not, should not be given opportunities to ‘shape their image’ and status whilst simultaneously paying less tax, paying membership dues to pro inequality lobby groups and so on.
There are other ways to fundraise.”
Read more here.
Anti-Poverty Network SA 