The ancient Greeks; Socrates, hypocrites, homer would all meet up in the market square or other patches of land to discuss the issues of the day, sharing vast gallon flagons of potent wines, much like the seventies park bench alcoholics. This period is generally considered the origin of serious thought. Sadly Socrates got himself in a pickle and ended up subject to execution by the consumption of hemlock. He never wrote a word. Not only espousing work to sit around talking he also couldn't be arsed writing it down. In Socrates we see the ultimate street drinker, perhaps the all time greatest dosser.
Essentially work was a trick the upper classes ,managed to get over on the poor. If the wealthy could organise all the desperate rabble in to tidying up, gardening and generally keeping things in order this would free them up to ride horses and shoot animals. Until the first world war when they found themselves stuck in the trenches together, dependent on each other for their very lives. Charging over the top in to battle which won us both wars was led what would these days be classed as football hooligans. "Come on you German bastards, do you want some?". Yes it was these earthy working class thugs who got the job done, not the effete and sensitive types writing love poems to those back home. On return the upper classes, having shared times with the louts, gave them an NHS, council houses and decent jobs. This has all faded now, mind. Perhaps you'll need us again in the future of war and feel obliged to drop us a few bob.
Many of these returning soldiers found no jobs. But there was the park bench and the cheap sherry and the outdoor philosophy. Most suffering from PTSD rambled on and small children would target horse chestnut conkers on their heads. They'd suffered worse.
A slight afterthought I have always had is why the street drinker seeks company, conversation and a passing world to observe and pass comment on. The heroin addict is not a public figure. Perhaps its the precious powder and our English weather. There's no way you could chase a beetle in the wind and cooking up a hit would require a public toilet or some other shelter. Then when it kicks in they can't be arsed leaving the gaff. Telly will do. Jeremy Kyle. A programme about addicts made for addicts. Kyles career is based on addiction and its perpetuation. His preferred treatment is the Detox5, the least successful heroin addiction cure known to any of the health services. The addict is locked away, heavily sedated in a white room for five days. Based on the misguided 1950s idea that a heroin with drawl lasted but five days. The drug is barely out of the system by then but no recovery or restoration of endorphins has begun. The relapse rate is huge.
It is a fall for our society. The park bench philosopher who once graced our inner cities replaced by junkies hooked on drugs, crime and crap TV.
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