thanks so much for turning me into a Tory... briefly
If everyone lived like that, there would be no society for you to ponce off. No houses to squat in, no hotels to sneak into, no public bathrooms or water fountains, no libraries or BBC recordings or pubs where you can scrounge a free drink. All of these things exist because they're funded by taxes and consumerism - which you claim to eschew.

I'm all for recycling and using things that would otherwise go to waste, even freeganism for those with such low standards they're happy to eat gone-off food out of a bin. Good for them. But what you're describing is leeching off society.

It doesn't even make sense because if you devoted all that time and ingenuity to earning money instead of thieving, you could afford to live a lot better for your efforts.

Now I need to go and wash.
(no way hose is staring unemployment in the face on, Wed 29 Oct 2008, 15:43, 2 replies)

I agree with this
and with whoever said "for the same effort I can work and afford a better standard of living"

the OP is not too preachy which I appreciate, but it still does smack slightly of the same bullshit that The Goat frequently tries to drown us with.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 29 Oct 2008, 15:52, closed)

I'm with you there
I hate paying taxes, but if we all didn't pay taxes where would we all be?
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Wed 29 Oct 2008, 18:07, closed)

im currently not squatting but...
wtf is wrong with it.. i live in london where last time i checked there were close to 70'000 unoccupied properties and about twice as many homeless.. if i was still single and childless i wouldnt be paying rent and thats for certain.

when i have squatted in the past generally speaking we have paid all our bills (electric, gas, water, internet) having 10 or so housemates and no rent makes that a lot easier.


and to whoever made the comment about freeganism - if the food had gone off we wouldnt be eating it would we.. london stores generally throw away 40% of their food stock every day.. if they just gave it away to the homeless instead we wouldnt have to sneak round the back and get it out of the bins
(skippy the ratboy doesnt want to write something funny here!, Wed 29 Oct 2008, 19:02, closed)

They aren't
saying there is anything inherently wrong with squatting, but the point being made is that if everybody squatted, there would be no incentive to build any houses, in which case there would soon be no places to squat.

And if you are getting everything for free and not earning, you aren't going to be able to afford to maintain the place you are squatting in.

The whole point about food waste from stores has been made earlier and it has been pointed out that giving away food to the homeless is risky as they can leave themselves open to legal action if you contract food poisoning. So throwing the food away isn't good, but that's not the fault of the stores, that's the fault of both legislators for not dealing with this problem, and the leech that first sued a supermarket for getting food poisoning from food they didn't pay for.

Also, say you're squatting in a house and the owner comes up and asks you to leave as they want to either sell it or redevelop the site or whatever else they want to do with their own property. Do you cheerfully wander off and find somewhere else? Do you hell. Evicting anyone from any property is an absolute nightmare.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 29 Oct 2008, 20:13, closed)

yeah
but the point is that everybody doesn't squat, that *I* should feel guilty for the middle-class's consumerism is bollocks. If someone tossed a twenty pound note on the ground because it made their wallet look unsightly, you wouldn't think twice about picking it up.

As for freeganism, stores like Sainsbury's which have a freshly baked bread policy throw away £££-worth a night. Eat that shit up.

Of course, it's not for everyone, and if you don't want to do it, don't. But if you're up for doing, fuckin' do it.
(sorry., Wed 29 Oct 2008, 21:47, closed)