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Barefoot Panhandler Isn't Utterly Destitute And The NY Post Can't Let It Go
The Post's raison d'être is to manipulate the working class into a blinkered, frothing rage at everyone except the conservative ruling class and their arrogant gendarmes. Selfish oligarchs are "successful citizens" while homeless veterans are "roving psychos." Naturally New York's tabloid of record assigned not one, not two, but three reporters to follow-up on a four-month-old story about a Times Square panhandler. This panhandler is worthy of the Post's demagoguery because he may not be utterly penniless. In fact, Jeffrey Hillman is an unemployed Army veteran with a history of drug abuse who must be exposed for the fraud he is. Why waste resources investigating those in power when jeering at the downtrodden is so much more fun?
Hillman, you'll recall, was briefly at the center of a semi-heartwarming Bart's People story concerning a sympathetic Times Square policeman who bought a pair of $100 boots for the barefoot beggar. A photo of the cop giving Hillman the boots went viral, but the ensuing media frenzy brought an unwanted depth to the Norman Rockwell portrait—Hillman, it turns out, is not homeless. And after accepting the boots, he was soon seen begging barefoot again.
After thoroughly reporting that Hillman is not in fact the poorest and most troubled panhandler in New York City, most of the media moved on. But not the NY Post, whose trio of reporters tracked down Hillman yesterday for an article headlined, "Bum given boots by kind-hearted cop is back to begging barefoot! Panhandler has '30 pairs of shoes'." Yes, some panhandlers (and the city they live in) do all right in one of the world's tourist meccas.
Hillman, you'll recall, was briefly at the center of a semi-heartwarming Bart's People story concerning a sympathetic Times Square policeman who bought a pair of $100 boots for the barefoot beggar. A photo of the cop giving Hillman the boots went viral, but the ensuing media frenzy brought an unwanted depth to the Norman Rockwell portrait—Hillman, it turns out, is not homeless. And after accepting the boots, he was soon seen begging barefoot again.
After thoroughly reporting that Hillman is not in fact the poorest and most troubled panhandler in New York City, most of the media moved on. But not the NY Post, whose trio of reporters tracked down Hillman yesterday for an article headlined, "Bum given boots by kind-hearted cop is back to begging barefoot! Panhandler has '30 pairs of shoes'." Yes, some panhandlers (and the city they live in) do all right in one of the world's tourist meccas.
More: http://gothamist.com/2013/03/26/barefoot_panhandler_isnt_utterly_de.php