Matt Connarton Unleashed: Homeless Veterans

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm I gotta say something about this that nobody ever
brings up, but this is well documented. I don't know why.
This is one of those things that nobody ever brings up,
and I don't know why, but I like to say
this whenever the subject comes up for people who don't know.
There is a large percentage. I mean, estimates vary, but
there is a large percentage of homeless people in this country.

(00:23):
And wherever you're watching or listening to this, in your
city or here in Manchester where we are, there's a
percentage of homeless people who are veterans. Why do I
mention that because the Veterans Administration, while it does very
well for some people, a lot of people fall through
the cracks. A lot of people end up homeless because

(00:45):
they have to take pain medication that they get through
the VA because of what happened to them during their
military service serving our country. And then one day they
get cut off and after resort to street drugs and
it becomes you know, and they just fall down the
whole and then they wind up homeless.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
And add to that the fact that they've also recently
cut veteran services on mental health and they've literally taken
mental health clinicians and put them in a telemarketing like
room right where they're all talking to clients openly in
this room.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Right. But I'm bringing this up for a very specific
reason because there's a particular look people who like to
bash homeless people, who like to make fun of them,
who like to talk about them as though they're trash
that just needs to be swept away somewhere.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
They tend to be of a certain political ideology, right.
You know, you don't hear liberals talk in that way.
But the same people who are the cruelest in their
condemnation of people who are homeless are typically the same
people who like to wrap themselves in the flag, who

(01:59):
like to act like they're more patriotic than the rest
of us, and who love to talk about how important
it is to honor and support and take care of veterans.
So I want the people who do that. I want
the people who think it's cool to kick, hopefully not
literally but figuratively, or perhaps they fantasize about kicking them

(02:22):
literally homeless people when they're down. Just understand something you
might be talking about a veteran when you do that.
So anyone who thinks it's cool to be assholes to
homeless people, just understand you might be assholes to people
who served their country. And then, because we have a

(02:43):
long history of discarding people when they leave the military
and not giving them the help and support that they need,
and that is well documented. You can trace out all
the way back to World War One when our veterans
were not given things and support help that they were promised.
So just understand if you're a conservative who loves to

(03:06):
wrap yourself in the flag and talk about how veterans
are so important because the military is so important and
we need honor our veterans, and you would also just
as soon spit on a homeless person as even acknowledge
their existence or give them any sort of dignity. Understand
that you've got a conflict happening there, because that might
be that might very well be a veteran that you're

(03:28):
doing that too. And I will say this every single
time this subject comes up, because nobody ever says it,
and I don't know why, but a lot of homeless
people are veterans who fell through the cracks. So you know,
people who just mistreat them, you know, I understand if
you don't want to give them money. I don't give
them money, Okay, I don't have a lot of extra
money to just be given out to people. But I

(03:51):
would never I would never disrespect a homeless person. I
would never talk down to them. I would never be
mean to them and nothing like that, you know, I mean,
unless they came at me. Be right, They're a human beings,
child number one. They're a human beings and you don't
know their story. You don't know how they got there,

(04:12):
you don't know what happened to them. But part of
that too is also just so you know, conservatives who
think it's cool to go around shitting on homeless people.
That homeless person that you think is a piece of shit,
they might be a veteran who fell through the cracks.
And we all know veterans who fell through the cracks,
so just something to consider. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
And then when I was an EMT, I can tell
you I responded to a number of veterans who needed
help and who fell through the cracks, and the VA
didn't take care of And they should have never ended
up with me because they weren't being taken care of
right by the VA.