“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” Mark Twain
Twain attributed the quote to British politician Disraeli but researchers have concluded that the phrase originally appeared in 1895 in an article by Leonard H. Courtney. Ironically Mark Twain is credited with saying that “it isn’t what we don’t know that causes problems but what we know for sure – that ain’t so”.
The fault lies not with the science of statistics but with what we know about statistics that ain’t so. .
However, reading the article reveals it is not ‘powerful drugs’ but capitalism that was the cause of the significant jump in homeless population. People were not coming because they could get powerful drugs here, but because of the attractive prices and supply.
Consumerism: whether going to Abbotsford for drugs or going cross-border shopping it’s about the price.
Given the media coverage, misunderstanding and misapplication of the results of the homeless count it is clearly important to understand what the homeless count IS and IS NOT. Failing to understand what the homeless count is and isn’t is what makes the homeless count one more behaviour that contributes to the growth of homelessness.
