So much for perp walks and the rule of law, no rule of law no trust, and yet another reason there is a lack of respect or trust for those who should be upholding the rule of law...
"Something happening here..." - Stephen Stills
Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman had an interesting post yesterday and it contained some surprising facts... Trust me, this will actually get around to boat stuff sooner or later.
One of those facts, that violent crime was way down, flies in the face of everything the media/politicians/etc are throwing at you as we are constantly being told we live in an unsafe world that is getting less safe everyday...
Which is apparently not the case.
You might want to pause and reflect on that for a moment or two...
I bring this up in a boat blog of all things because every time you open a sailing magazine you are confronted with a whole lot of hype that is all about selling you stuff and like a lot of things hype driven, it might not actually be true...
The thing about hype is that it is insidious and it creeps into the common knowledge base so even folks who should know better start taking for granted that it's real. Where blue water boats, related systems, and seaworthiness are concerned there is just so much hype and misinformation that it is nearly impossible to tell one from the other without stepping WAY back and asking yourself some close to primal questions about how boats work and what makes a boat safe...
For instance, ask why deep draft is considered more seaworthy or safer than shoal or moderate draft and try and find some answers that are more than "Because". To quote Jack Webb (a guy who went to my high school), "Just the facts ma'am".
Personally, I'd like to see a sailing magazine that put some more effort into the education of its readers (WoodenBoat is a good example of a magazine that does so without pandering to its advertisers) and not only when it is convenient to help pimp advertising... To tell you the truth, I'm so tired of reading yet another "Cats are the Future of Cruising" article that are completely empty of facts or educational value except the ongoing message of Catamarans are hip and here are some you can buy...
Which, I might add, is coming from someone who really likes multihulls but who thinks the sailing community is ill served by hype rather than real hard info.
So next time around show me some graphs and some facts... Actually explain why the new flavor of the month cruising design deserves to be the flavor of the month. Is it because it is safer, easier to sail, has a Paisley paint job, or is it simply because they took two full pages of advertising in the current issue?
Of course, it is partly our fault as we don't ask the sort of questions we should be asking... You know, the why sort.
Rant over.
Listening to Bob Marley
So it goes...
