Another photo of the fake Spare Change guy

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

I took a photo of the fake Spare Change guy at Kendall last night. (For those of you who haven't heard about this before, here's the Boston.com article about it.) I noticed that the photo anomie666 posted here in March isn't available anymore, so I figured I'd post mine.

Needless to say, he wasn't happy I took his photo. He came up and yelled at me, calling me a "skinhead" and saying, "You couldn't even sell yourself, because you're bald!". For the record, while my hair is very short, I am neither bald nor a skinhead, in any sense of the word. ;-) I was a little worried he was going to try to take my phone, but he didn't make any moves to touch me or my stuff.

Please pass this photo along to anyone you know who rides the Red line in Cambridge/Somerville. What do folks think: Is it worth it to email it to the local newspapers or the MBTA? It seems like the Spare Change people are well informed about who he is, so I don't think they really need a photo.

Comments

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

Would you feel that way if this guy was mugging people on the T? Or robbing houses? If he was well dressed and clean cut? I don't see why we should treat a thief any differently because of his appearance or the nature of his theft.

(And as an aside, I have a lot of sympathy for the under-homed, to the point that I give $240/year to the Somerville Homeless Coalition. If this guy were sitting on the corner asking for spare change, I would have no problem with him.)

[adaptively.livejournal.com]

Yup, I would have the same problem - it's a crappy thing to do to a person. It's generally considered good photographer's etiquette to ask before taking someone's photo, especially if you're planning on distributing it.

He has feelings and opinions, possibly even ones about where he wants his image shown - unless you got him to sign a release, in which case all bets are off. This just comes across as a little bit vengeful and voyeuristic. I'd suggest reporting him to a T cop if you're being scammed or see him scamming others, rather than going vigilante. (I am all about the "v" words today!) No hard feelings from me, just trying to get my opinion across on the matter.

To chenoameg, because I'm too lazy to make two comments, that's what the nice police officer told me when they took away my SD card on the red line - granted, policy has apparently changed since that happened in 2006, but I err on the side of not losing SD cards/being searched by the po-po.