Homeless & Voyeurism 02 Jun 2006 11:51 am
Television will be your downfall
This is an actual conversation I had with someone recently who knows I am homeless.
guy: Here, you should take this. It’s still perfectly good. [has a coiled up handful of cable television wire]
me: What do I need the cable TV wire for?
guy: So you can run it to your van and watch television. When you park at people’s houses you can tap into their signal!
me: [looking at wire] I’d have to imagine what pictures are coming off that end there as I have no television to hook it too.
guy: [left speechless]
bystander: What about if you take it for if you ever do get a TV?
me: Well, thanks but no thanks. I’m not much of a TV watcher anyways and space is really limited in there. It was a nice thought though.
Everyone has their form of entertainment and I have mine and television is one of them. In fact, I can happily live for years without watching even a single bit of it, though I freely admit that I do like a movie now and then. But people who do choose television as their form are in such a vast majority that it’s just assumed that everyone also has made the same choice.
Apparently it’s also so pervasive in their lives that it can be their downfall too. A homeless camp in Tarpon Springs, Florida was busted when extension cords leading from a subdivision’s gate lead police off into the brush. They had lights and radios, both easily battery powered, and a television that would not be so easily powered without a line of AC.
So they could have stealth camped easily with just a cache of batteries for lanterns and radios and been just fine but the lure of the flickering blue glow ended their encampment when they were forced to move on and even netted two of the campers a misdemeanor and a felony count.
Back in the heyday I lived in a high rise condo with a nice city view. I was always amazed at night with all the windows with blue cast flickers coming out. Sometimes I’d even find ones that were in sync with one another as they were watching the same show. Likely, this is a blue glow that’ll never emanate from my van. I just don’t care enough. Even with a free antenna, a free pilfering cable and a free 12 volt flat panel I’d likely not want to spent the time to install it as I’d just never watch it.