beccaelizabeth's dreamwidth journal

Homeless forced to camp on beach

Borough mayor Paul Garrod said: "Homeless people in tents on the beach are the last thing holidaymakers want to see so something must be done."

... yes, clearly that's the *important* part of the issue there.

Newspapers make me *facepalm* often.
Articles that use the phrase "common sense dictates" as rebuttal to actual research are deeply stupid, because all common sense is made of is ideology you've forgotten you learned.
And asking if the playground is full of drunks - has she looked lately? Because I clearly recall classmates having ambulance level drink binges when *I* was in school, and subsequent research has shown the problem getting worse. And maybe they're not in the playground, but in my day it was only because they were in the pub across the street, so fuck knows why she thinks it's a good indicator. The answer is "yes, the drunks and the drug addicts and the pregnant teens and the mentally ill you're asking rhetorical questions about are there and your 'common sense' keeps your eyes closed to them". The report they're letting 'common sense' dictate to was meant to open their eyes. Surely when data meets 'common sense' it's *data* that should win?

This is why Sunnydale denial and its Torchwood equivalent seem to me both plausible, depressing, and actually important - because this shit goes on all the time but some people with a comfortable mind-world set up just ignore what doesn't fit.


This is also why Fortean is an important philosophical position.
Rocks fall from the sky! It just happened! Deal!

Ignore bloggers at your peril

interesting article in the Guardian
includes the statistic:
More than half of the internet users on the continent are passive and do not contribute to the web at all, while a further 23% only respond when prompted.

I'm interested in finding out how they figured that silent half exist.

but also: at least 73% of netizens are lurkers??? woah.


also:
They also tend on average to be better off, better educated and, more importantly, employed.
... well, 1/3, not bad... er, come to think, I technically haven't finished high school level yet. Not actually in college.
so, 0/3. oops.

but I still talk a lot! so that's okay!
;-)