False Twitter Memes About Homeless Encampment Along the Santa Ana River Bike Trail

I've written about the O.C.'s homeless problem a few times now, and it's not because of "left-wing socialism," as at least a couple of commenters have argued on Twitter. There's a viral video of the homeless camp along the bike trail near Anaheim Stadium, and some tweeps are claiming that these are migrant camps with "refugees." That's just not the case. These are regular urban homeless encampments, and from what I've learned you've got the full range of people residing in them. The most common cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing. And usually the homeless are those with severe mental illness, people who normally refuse offers of temporary shelter (because they'll lose their freedom and be told what to do and how to live).

Unfortunately, in our tribal political era, fake memes aren't the exclusive domain of your political enemies. Sometimes people on your own side push false narratives, pernicious narratives. And this bothers me.

This person below, Ryan Saavedra, supposedly a "reporter" at the Daily Wire, did not respond to my tweet nor remove or make corrections to his comments.

Oh well. I'm a positivist conservative. I still believe in the truth. Truth should win out. In the end, conservatives will win when truth wins, so I'm sticking with it.

It is not. It’s a homeless camp next to Anaheim Stadium. Anaheim’s about as capitalist a city you’ll see in California. The problem is mental health and lack of jobs and affordable housing. Stop spreading fake memes. #TheOC https://t.co/bUVRGKg980

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 17, 2018

This video was taken in Orange County, California recently.

It is over 10-minutes long, only 2:20 can be uploaded to Twitter.

This is the result of socialism and left-wing politics. pic.twitter.com/8BYWuXo0ly

— Ryan Saavedra 🇺🇸 (@RealSaavedra) January 16, 2018