RE: Documenting the undocumented: How one company counts the 'invisible poor'
Information is a powerful tool and it can be used, as suggested here, to do a lot of good. On the other hand, it can be used to promote, coerce and manipulate. It seems that it is assumed that anyone who looks to any underclass has noble intentions, but just a thin layer under the surface will no doubt reveal an agenda that would at least be debatable. Our own census system is an obvious example of that. I use demographics on a regular basis to effectively advance my own cause and agenda and not everyone would agree with my perspectives. What makes us assume it would be so with any one else. This story itself is targeted at a specific demographic.
How would it sit with the population that is reading this piece if it were about a Christian organization that has mobile information harvesters and advocates who are systematically scrutinizing and promoting to these "in need" populations the message of eternity and Jesus Christ?
Most people are oblivious to the level that they are being marketed to, whether for good cause or not.
