Why do SO MANY people believe that New Yorkers are jerks?

Welcome to New York. You are very lucky that is all that happened to you!

While I understand why Don didn't believe you, I do. But I'd like to hazard a guess about these incidents- did they happen in Times Square? Don is a regular on this site and he lives here in NYC.

Because he is a local (like me) he's never experienced belligerent people bugging him for money and even following him. But this DOES happen in Times Square, and almost always to tourists. However, these people aren't homeless, they are rather just one step away from con artist.

There really is a difference. These people have started this activity only in the past few years. They prey on tourists and can actually be aggressive at times.

Asking for money isn't a crime, but "aggressive panhandling" (which is what the cops call it) IS a crime. If you ever are in this situation again, go tell a cop. There are usually a LOT of police in Times Square, partially for this reason.

But don't confuse Times Square with the whole of NYC! While Times Square may seem big and dense to you, it's actually only a tiny part of NYC as a whole. Most New Yorkers never go there anymore, because they see it as sort of like Disneyland - not a real part of the city in some sense.

The only reason a New Yorker would find himself in Times Square is if he had tickets to a Broadway play or if he worked there. There ARE genuine homeless people in NYC. Most of them are families with children.

They tend to live in homeless shelters and are not usually as identifiable as "homeless". The working poor are similarly often in shelters. There are single homeless adults living on the streets of NYC who are usually mentally ill, and the shelter system doesn't serve them well.

(Actually, the shelter isn't serving ANYONE well, but at least the non-mentally ill homeless have shelter, even if it's awful.) But real homeless people are rarely aggressive, even the one who have mental problems. They are more often VICTIMS of violence!

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.