January 2012
124 posts
“The next person I see with a heroin problem will probably be working class. They will probably have gone to the sort of school which is itself tragedy, and will have come from a family environment, such as a run-down council estate, which is a sink-hole. There’s a very strong relationship between depravation and drug use in many western cultures. It’s not the sole reason- you do get the rich and mega-privileged using drugs… You can’t go shouting from the rooftops that it’s all about depravation… a lot of it is… but there are other social factors, personal factors, genetic factors and economic factors - all mixed into the pot.”
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Griffith Edwards, founder of the National Addiction Centre, on the role of addictions in human culture. (via curiositycounts)
Reminds me of this mind-blowingly brilliant piece by novelist/journalist Will Self, about his addiction.
Are you a 'hate reader'?
Here on the op-ed desk, we’re familiar with readers taking serious issue with our pieces, although encouraging informed discussion and debate is our job, right? But after reading this article on the rise of “hate reading” we wonder if any of our readers actively seek out the writers they dislike for a bit of mental self-flagellation.
Ever deliberately read a Comment is free article knowing you’ll disagree with every word? Followed someone on Twitter just so you could take issue with every microblog they send? Or found yourself turning to your least favourite newspaper columnist first? In short: are you a hate reader?
“The NYPD has had a long standing history of bad policing in black and Latino communities. In 2010 alone, the NYPD engaged in more than 600,000 stop-and-frisks searches; 84% of those stopped were of black or Latino. Time and again, police officers have used force when stopping them. Half of these stops have been cited as “furtive movements”, a label that portrays black and brown people as clandestine. The stop-and-frisk widespread problem that is racially discriminatory under the ostensible excuse that the practice is necessary in fighting crime. Sadly, this procedure has not proved to reduce crime or make the city any safer.”
—Debbie Almontaser on the NYPD’s ugly history of racial profiling
Listen
Giles Fraser, Church of England priest who resigned over the possible eviction of Occupy protesters at St Paul’s cathedral in London, talks about how working in the bustling Guardian newsroom differs from the quiet of St Paul cathedral.
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Money in American politics was already an elephant in the room. Now the supreme court has given it a laxative, taken away the shovel, and asked us to ignore both the sight and the stench
- Gary Younge
” —Comment is free
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The huge salaries and bonuses, we are told, are essential if we are to prevent this tiny percentage of selfish, hoarding arseholes from moving overseas. Imagine if they flew to Singapore and started selfishly hoarding things over there instead. Drained of their expertise and reassuring presence, how would Britain cope? Within days we’d be walking on all fours and devouring our offspring for food.
I don’t want to panic you, but that’s the reality. Never mind weeping over the size of their bonuses: we should be dropping to our knees and giving them blowjobs, tearfully imploring them to remain seated each time we come up for air. Treble their wages. Form a human ring around Britain’s airports to prevent them from leaving. And for God’s sake don’t ask them to share anything. That kind of talk merely angers them.
Sharing is for the rest of us. Not sharing money or bison meat, but personal information. Where we are. What we’re doing. Share it! Make it public! Go on! It’s fun!
” —Charlie Brooker on why people want to share *everything* online
Play
