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Termyn8or -> RE: It's not the moderators (2/13/2010 6:29:47 AM)
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OK, I screwed up the math. Thanks for the correction. However that means the 50,000 deaths are even more "insignificant". Of course even one unnecessary death is not "insignificant" but when reduced to numbers it sure seems that way. Now for example that was expressed pre capita. Well per capita did not walk into a hospital that year. How many did ? The number expressed as a percentage of the total patients only instead would yield a much more damnning result wouldn't it ?
Which actually brings up another tool of manipulation I'd not mentioned in thread. Exclusions. A very simple perfect example would be the unemployment rate. They only count certain unemployed people. This is where it gets tricky, but tricky is the name of the game. Nobody can tell me just what percentage of this population is actually unemployed. I mean how many able bodied, willing people are out there who simply can't find a job ? I know a few. Tricky ? That's an understatement. Do we exclude a truck driver who lost his license ? Do we exclude housewives/househusbands ? At the very least, they should probably exclude people who work for the government, especially politicians. Or, on the other hand should the latter actually be included ?
It is he who makes these choice who has more power over the impact of statistics than the raw data alone.
Take the GDP. Should what banks make be included in the GDP ? Surely they are gross and domestic, but they have no product. In or out. If it were your call what would you say ? If one were to strictly interpret the word "product" it would be clear that the national debt is not GOING to exceed the GDP, it already has. How about we get a figure on the Gross Export Product ? Of course we do send bombs all over the world, but in this case I would say only the ones that we get paid for should count. Should we count the profits of Walmart i.e., where about every product they sell is made in China, and that even includes garlic ! And with what they pay, I wonder if their employees should be counted among the unemployed.
Manipulation, in the sense of this thread for now, means manipulation of the masses. On a personal level it is a piece of cake. And there are two forms. For example a drug abuse counsellor is a manipulator, and though he may make money doing it, it is not for a self serving self enriching end. Like many other things it can be used for good or bad, just like a gun, a car or a butcher knife for that matter. In that light should statsticians and pollsters be licensed ? Maybe, but even I would be hard pressed to figure out what the requirements might be. Even moreso just how to enforce them.
Around 1977-78 Zenith, the last lone US manufacturer of TV sets introduced an ad campaign. Someone would've called their bluff but what they said was true. Three out of four TV technicians said their TVs were the easiest to repair and required the fewest repairs of any major brand. But in 1979 they changed their design drastiacally and sales went up by 4%, while profits soared by 400%. In other words, they ran on those stats, and took the money and ran not unlike Billy Joe and Bobby Sue. They also moved their factories to Mexico and could still call it American made, something quite misunderstood by the US populace at large. If a pollster reports "__% of Americans" favor one thing or another, people think that means US citizens or Citizens whichever you choose. Americans includes Mexicans, Canadians, Pananians, and that's only north Americans. If the number were really true, the polls would have extended to Venezuelans, Brazilians and so forth. But this exclusion is widely accepted and even in Presidential speeches the distinction is not made. Though US citizens may believe that we rule the entire continent, we in fact, do not.
Unfortunately for some, that means no proof is good enough. The only proof is that the facts fit with extant facts, which one can only hope are facts. This can make one seemingly stubborn, but it might not be so. It might make one seem as if they are engaging in post hoc ergo propter hoc, but that is also not always true. Those of us who distrust data from "established" sources must always be on guard against both extremes.
One out of one terminator(s) say that this is enough for a Saturday morning. I/we also advocate doing whatever one damn well pleases on a Saturday, so in a bit I will rock the hood and start having a good time. I will do as I please, and I please to procure all substances and whatnot needed soon, and not drive after dark and of course beer. I don't want to kill .001666% of the population.
T
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