I think if this Wired author had been more flexible we’d have been spared this article as he would have been too occupied sucking his own dick.
“So the next time a bum tries to cadge a buck out of you, at least have the courtesy to pull the earbuds out and engage him as a fellow human being. Don’t give him any money if you don’t want to. But acknowledge him. He’s not a blot on your aesthetic little world.”
I am willing to treat people like humans if they do so in kind. Most beggars have no interest “engag[ing you] as a fellow human being.” Passers-by are objectified as walking sources of money, and I see no reason to extend any human gesture at such times.
Of course, there are times to be good and nice and human, but not all the time.