Theory vs. The Thing Itself
forever
Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, last month:
Los Angeles County won’t stand for cruelty! No matter what the stupid Supreme Court says, they’ll keep insisting on kindness in the face of homelessness. Meanwhile, LAPD Officer Deon Joseph, who has spent most of his long career policing Skid Row, asks us now to watch this video of county-funded “harm reduction” at work:
Note the drug dealers at the end of the day, counting their cash.
The relentless human suffering on the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and other blue zone cities is coded as kindness no matter how cruel it becomes. The option of forcing an end to encampments is mean, no matter how vicious and destructive the encampments become. The theory prevails, against all evidence. Homeless encampments full of dying drug addicts are artifacts of compassion, the end.
We don’t have politics. We don’t have debate over policy options. We have reality and a giant wall of fashionable denial that prevents us from reaching it. Practitioners — people on the street, in direct contact with reality — speak without being heard. Theory is louder. Insane, toxic, and louder.
People like Lindsey Horvath deserve an awakening that matches the character of the lives people live under the weight of her delusions.
Will be entirely offline until early next week, studying reality in person. Back soon.
Enablers to addiction and chaotic living, encouragers of despair and degradation; they are the definition of cruelty and dehumanizing encouragement.