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" For some time now, homeless people have been used as props by saccharine vloggers with unforgivable haircuts to showcase just how empathetic and down-to-earth they are. To be fair, people lap it up. Type &amp;#039;Homeless&amp;#039; into YouTube, and you&amp;#039;ll be greeted by thousands of viral videos, all purporting to be &amp;#039;social experiments&amp;#039; (the experiment, presumably, is examining just how patronising a human being can become without imploding). But this one\u2026 this one&amp;#039;s just weird. When Sydney fitness vlogger Chelcie (not a real name) Vera Cookson came across a homeless man in her home town, she didn&amp;#039;t opt to buy him food or help him find shelter. Instead, she signed him up to a gym membership, and when he refused (five times), she told him: &amp;quot;You don&amp;#039;t have a fucking choice.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;During meditation it came to me \u2013 what could make him change?&amp;#039; she says in her\u00A0video. &amp;#039;What could I do to make him effortlessly transform his life? And I realised \u2013 exercise! Exercise is the key to so many things! I I can just get him moving. And I thought \u2013 I need to get him a\u00A0 f*cking gym membership.&amp;quot; Let that collection of words sink in for a second. Take a deep breath. Now watch.   Despite claiming that the gym had helpful shower facilities, and that she&amp;#039;d buy him a haircut and a new wardrobe, she&amp;#039;s been getting a whole heap of backlash for what seems to be a bizarre display of wholly inappropriate and out-of-touch gym evangelism. Metro reports that one commenter asked: &amp;#039;What about somewhere to sleep or is a gym membership more important?&amp;#039;, while another accused her of doing it for the attention, saying: &amp;#039;You could have just written a status, oh but then no one would look at you and the 900 selfies you upload.&amp;#039; Chelcie hit back on News.com.au, saying: &amp;quot;Food and shelter are a temporary, short term fix. I&amp;#039;m trying to give him his energy and self-confidence back, to show that someone has faith in him. When someone has self confidence and happiness they can conquer anything.&amp;quot; So well-intentioned and surprisingly useful, or out-of-touch and cynical? Answers on a postcard, people. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.co.uk/culture/news/a10983/fitness-vlogger-buys-homeless-guy-a-gym-membership/>