R.I.P BLANKETMAN

[donvito]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6260217/Wellingtons-Blanket-Man-Ben-Hana-dies






NEW BLANKET



Blue Billys (tha man)





REAL Rijjys


ftp



share a fresh bottle of meths with margy

[Milky Pisswit]

A true Wellington icon.

Hope he's rolling around in the gutters somewhere in the ether with his balls out.

R.I.P.

[Fiction & Falsehood]

i heard a while ago that matt who used to hang out on cuba st had died, does anyone know?

he was a much nicer person than blanket man if you ask me, but oh well.

[General Mutante]

I remember Matt. Good company of an afternoon.

[Dixon Cider A.C.]

REAL Rijjys

hardout

[Fiction & Falsehood]

I remember Matt. Good company of an afternoon.

just had word that matt is alive and well and living in nelson, good shit, il have to have briar on about telling me he was dead.

[Tartanperil]

There is something fucked up about people when a malnourished mentally-ill homeless man isn't given the specalised help he needs and is seen as "iconic" and a "tourist drawcard"?

Iconic of the direction the country's heading I guess.

IIrc Ben - and many others - appeared in the Welly CDB in the '90s after National's purge and closures of the country's mental instutions to help save high income earners some dosh.

[ghetto ninja]

There is something fucked up about people when a malnourished mentally-ill homeless man isn't given the specalised help he needs and is seen as "iconic" and a "tourist drawcard"?

Sorry bro but your assuming that he wasnt repeatedly offered the help he needed. Service providers cant really do anything if the person in question refuses help.

[dustbinflowers]

It is pretty sad when anyone who chooses to live differently is seen as being unwell.

[PertHJ]

stink buzz

[Tartanperil]

There is something fucked up about people when a malnourished mentally-ill homeless man isn't given the specalised help he needs and is seen as "iconic" and a "tourist drawcard"?

Sorry bro but your assuming that he wasnt repeatedly offered the help he needed. Service providers cant really do anything if the person in question refuses help.

I'm well aware he often refused help. That is very typical of many out-paitents who need help.

It is sad that this country's mental health services aren't funed enough that the specalised help he needed wasn't available.


Did he have free choice to choose a live that would kill him prematurely?

Probably not.

He should have been provided with adequate mental health services to give him that real choice. If he then choose that life then fine I have no problem with that at all. - But I'll wager he didn't have the real free choice to make that decision.

[rex]

john key killed blanketman,it's all john's fault

[Fiction & Falsehood]

i dont know why everyone likes blanketman so much(just got reminded that he used to be known as tarzan) nobody seems to care about methsman, or peterblack, or revamp, or any of the countless crazy streeties.

[Fiction & Falsehood]

i dont know why everyone likes blanketman so much(just got reminded that he used to be known as tarzan) nobody seems to care about methsman, or peterblack, or revamp, or any of the countless crazy streeties.

[dustbinflowers]

I just knew him from around Wellington for years, and generally found him to be quiet and thoughtful. And when he was a bit drunk and ranty he'd usually respond to a friendly "Hey, chill out brother".
And I like how his presence drove Kerry Prenderghastly mad with rage for years. She hated him being associated with Wellington so much you'd think he'd personally tea bagged her with his weather beaten bollocks.

[Fiction & Falsehood]

he never seemed nice to me, but lots of women say he was

[ghetto ninja]

I'm well aware he often refused help. That is very typical of many out-paitents who need help.

Thats very typical of anyone with a mental health issue whether theyve been institutionalised or not.
The institutional nature of our mental health services do not work for Maori and this is not being dealt with because no ones got a fucking clue how to deal with it.

[aerozol]

There is something fucked up about people when a malnourished mentally-ill homeless man isn't given the specalised help he needs and is seen as "iconic" and a "tourist drawcard"?

Iconic of the direction the country's heading I guess.

IIrc Ben - and many others - appeared in the Welly CDB in the '90s after National's purge and closures of the country's mental instutions to help save high income earners some dosh.

Fuck National, but your assumption is really off-point with this one.
He definitely was offered 'specalised help', the government would probably have paid any amount to get his oft-naked ass off Courtenay haha.

Shame he's gone, he was always an amusing sight.
Maybe I'm not being nice or PC, but it's the truth. Gave the place some colour.

[Tartanperil]

Thats very typical of anyone with a mental health issue whether theyve been institutionalised or not.
The institutional nature of our mental health services do not work for Maori and this is not being dealt with because no ones got a fucking clue how to deal with it.

Indeed. And cutting funding for research and servcies hasn't helped that situation one bit.

Fuck National, but your assumption is really off-point with this one.
He definitely was offered 'specalised help', the government would probably have paid any amount to get his oft-naked ass off Courtenay haha.

He wasn't offered effective specalised enough help because as above it doesn't exist. He avoided hospital etcbecause he wasn't allowed to drink. No service exists to effective deal with such people. A wet house would be a good start.

According to peope who spoke to him he did actually aim to drink himself to death. I have no problem with that if that's a conscious choice. But when that choice is made in the grip of an addiction like alcoholism I don't believe it's a conscious choice at all.

Other realistic options and treatments should have been available for him and similar cases. They weren't. We probably failed him. And now pass it off as "he lived the life he choose" and was a "colurful character" type thoughts to keep us cheerful about a tourted old man who died prematurely.

By all means celebrate the positive aspects of his life; but don't let it mask the socitial failures we can learn from.

[ghetto ninja]

How can you offer someone something that doesnt exist?
I have a lot to do with the homeless in Auckland central and drinking yourself to death is a pretty normal aim for some of these dudes.
One dude Pauly (massive beard, runs the windscreen washing crews) was determined to die on his 40th, sad as fuck mayng.

[Phlegm]

How can you offer someone something that doesnt exist?

Easily. There's your piece of mind. Religions have done it for years.

[Fiction & Falsehood]

"The institutional nature of our mental health services do not work for Maori"

Does not work for other races either

have to agree with the nazi on this one, i cannot believe that this kind of attitude persists, sure institutional services dont work for maori, they dont work for anyone.

canyou give me one sane reason eddie, that institutional services would work for a non-maori when they wouldnt for maori?

[aerozol]

According to peope who spoke to him he did actually aim to drink himself to death. I have no problem with that if that's a conscious choice. But when that choice is made in the grip of an addiction like alcoholism I don't believe it's a conscious choice at all.

Other realistic options and treatments should have been available for him and similar cases. They weren't. We probably failed him. And now pass it off as "he lived the life he choose" and was a "colurful character" type thoughts to keep us cheerful about a tourted old man who died prematurely.

By all means celebrate the positive aspects of his life; but don't let it mask the socitial failures we can learn from.

Christ, at least do some fucking research before responding.
He gave himself a self-imposed 'punishment' for killing his mate in a car crash he was at fault in. Since then he has refused any assistance from the govt., and would have told your 'wet house' to go get fucked too. These decisions were made before he drink/drug fucked, although possibly alcoholic.

I agree that Maori people aren't served by our European institutions and services, but Mr. Hana had a Whanau who offered him support. In my opinion (and statistically) continued close family support is what keeps Maori people out of crime (I discount crimes of necessity or in a revolutionary sense here) and other 'negative' situations. Considering he had this available to him, I don't think any kind of fancy building you wanted to put up for him would have done jack-shit.

Other realistic options and treatments should have been available for him and similar cases. They weren't.

Really? How do you know? While National is definitely slowly raping the shit out of the public health system, which is going to continue to fuck up lives for years, just making shit up doesn't really help.

[Fiction & Falsehood]

i think you screwed up the quotes there buddy, and no offence, but your information is no better than hearsay and speculation too, ive heard he was kicked out of where he came from by the local maori for his behavior, i dont like spreading shitty rumours about people i just mention it cos its equally as valid as what you or what tartanperil say, i.e. not really valid at all.

[Tartanperil]

He gave himself a self-imposed 'punishment' for killing his mate in a car crash he was at fault in. Since then he has refused any assistance from the govt., and would have told your 'wet house' to go get fucked too. These decisions were made before he drink/drug fucked, although possibly alcoholic.

Um, read your last word ffs.

As I said when that choice is made in the grip of an addiction like serious alcoholism I don't believe it's a necessirily a conscious choice at all. You may believe it is a conscious choice, but I certainly don't. (have you any experiance with alcoholism?)

Also without help people suffering from serious guilt "choose" to do stupid things they often regret later and wish they'd had support at the time.

Add those 2 together and I very much doubt he had anything like free and conscious choice to to choose to live the way he did.

Other realistic options and treatments should have been available for him and similar cases. They weren't.

Really? How do you know? While National is definitely slowly raping the shit out of the public health system, which is going to continue to fuck up lives for years, just making shit up doesn't really help.

Because if effective treatments were available he'd not be self-hating sucidial alcoholic.

Do we fund and try hard enough to help people in situations like his? I don't think so.

[Fiction & Falsehood]

of course we dont, thats not gunna change.

[aerozol]

i think you screwed up the quotes there buddy, and no offence, but your information is no better than hearsay and speculation too, ive heard he was kicked out of where he came from by the local maori for his behavior, i dont like spreading shitty rumours about people i just mention it cos its equally as valid as what you or what tartanperil say, i.e. not really valid at all.

Fair enough, I haven't had it from anyone who truly knows him, but it was in the paper recently. Not saying they only post true stuff, but the grain of truth tends to be there.

I should probably edit my post as it's a bit aggressive, but oh well. I basically don't feel the govt. could have done much in this case.
And I don't like being made out as an idiot...

Although regarding our systems shortcomings, here's something to get awesomely annoyed about:
http://brookingblog.com/2012/01/11/james-whenuaroa-sent-to-prison-for-stealing-orange-juice/
Shit is fucked, no doubt

[aerozol]

like serious alcoholism

Who told you he suffered from that before being on the street?

(have you any experiance with alcoholism?)

Yes.

Do we fund and try hard enough to help people in situations like his? I don't think so.

I don't think so either.

[Tartanperil]

...your information is no better than hearsay and speculation too ... i just mention it cos its equally as valid as what you or what tartanperil say, i.e. not really valid at all.

I base my thoughts on what his case workers have said in the media and from what friends who have ctually talked to him over the years have said.

I basically don't feel the govt. could have done much in this case.

There we disagree. While we'll never be able to "save" all such cases, the reforms (to save money) of the '90s that arsed such people out on the street were fucked. Even if as you claim he couldn't have had more done for him, I still think as a society we certainly failed people like him.

And I don't like being made out as an idiot...

Sorry, was un aware I had. Certainly wasn't the intention

EDIT:

Although regarding our systems shortcomings, here's something to get awesomely annoyed about:
http://brookingblog.com/2012/01/11/james-whenuaroa-sent-to-prison-for-stealing-orange-juice/
Shit is fucked, no doubt

That's exactly the kind of shit lack of support I'm talking about. This story will likely end the same as Ben's.

[Fiction & Falsehood]

So although Mr Whenuaroa has been forced to stay in prison 40 times, he has never been ‘forced’ to complete a treatment programme. That’s just crazy. Mr Whenuaroa could be compelled to stay in treatment – by committing him to a rehab programme in the community under the Alcohol and Drug Act or the Mental Health Act. To put that in place takes a bit of time, thought and energy but Mr Whenuaroa has never been committed. Instead the justice system recycles him – in and out of prison, and occasionally, in and out of rehab.

this will not change unless we move away from punitive justice in general, simply being an alcoholic or having mental problems is not a reason to give a person special treatment if others are denied the same.

everyone has problems, im not denying that some are worse and maybe deserve better treatment, im saying that you cant even consider changing the system for only one group of people.