Statistics Give Us Whatever We Want
Either I should be a fortune teller, or we (as a community) need to do something about this privacy issue... It happened again today:
It just irritates the hell out of me. I'm not giving up my day job to be a fortune teller. I have an Ameritrade account, I haven't received a phone call yet but I'd certainly hate to be the person on the other end of the phone if it ever comes. I would go on a tirade that would make Attila the Hun look like a pleasant individual.
As a side note: If you read my "Prejudice" post, you may wanna check out this link. It's an article about obesity related deaths. I really don't know if it has any real value other than it's somewhat interesting, it's related to what I was saying, but mostly because it's art as far as contradiction is concerned. I love statistics... because they are so easily manipulated by the author. Find me a study proving anything with statistics and I'll find you ten more that prove the exact opposite.
Every kind of media is so biased to one side or the other it's just twisted and wrong. I guess it can't be helped, because after all we'd all probably use whatever platform given to us to prove/do what what though was right and just. I mean, I wouldn't rant and rave trying to propagate something that I believed to be a lie on my blog, so why would I expect the editor of a newspaper to be any different? Sure, I can honestly say that I'm reasonable, that I try to be unbiased, and that I can view both sides of an issue with equality... But in the end my beliefs, personal motives, and all that stuff will win.
Look at gun control for instance... it's a hot topic at times, and with some it's always a hot topic. Go to the NRA website (or a million others) and read their statistics on how much crime is prevented by people owning firearms. Then, go to a gun control advocates website and look at their statistics on how much crime is perpetrated every year because of firearms. Statistics are just math, right? Math is a hard science the last time I checked. Hard science is something basically irrefutable. Yet, these two statistics couldn't show more different facts if they tried hard. It's all about the manipulation. It's all about what part you tell and what part you leave out. It's all about who you poll. It's all about the answer you want, then do what you have to to get it. All news is like that. It's amazing that any of us ever tune in at all when most reasonable people know it's about 98% bull shit. I guess it's a matter of choice, or the lack there of.
200,000 Ameritrade Client Files Lost
Leading online discount broker Ameritrade Holding Corp. said Tuesday it has
informed about 200,000 current and former customers that a backup computer tape containing their personal information has been lost.Associated Press
It just irritates the hell out of me. I'm not giving up my day job to be a fortune teller. I have an Ameritrade account, I haven't received a phone call yet but I'd certainly hate to be the person on the other end of the phone if it ever comes. I would go on a tirade that would make Attila the Hun look like a pleasant individual.
As a side note: If you read my "Prejudice" post, you may wanna check out this link. It's an article about obesity related deaths. I really don't know if it has any real value other than it's somewhat interesting, it's related to what I was saying, but mostly because it's art as far as contradiction is concerned. I love statistics... because they are so easily manipulated by the author. Find me a study proving anything with statistics and I'll find you ten more that prove the exact opposite.
Every kind of media is so biased to one side or the other it's just twisted and wrong. I guess it can't be helped, because after all we'd all probably use whatever platform given to us to prove/do what what though was right and just. I mean, I wouldn't rant and rave trying to propagate something that I believed to be a lie on my blog, so why would I expect the editor of a newspaper to be any different? Sure, I can honestly say that I'm reasonable, that I try to be unbiased, and that I can view both sides of an issue with equality... But in the end my beliefs, personal motives, and all that stuff will win.
Look at gun control for instance... it's a hot topic at times, and with some it's always a hot topic. Go to the NRA website (or a million others) and read their statistics on how much crime is prevented by people owning firearms. Then, go to a gun control advocates website and look at their statistics on how much crime is perpetrated every year because of firearms. Statistics are just math, right? Math is a hard science the last time I checked. Hard science is something basically irrefutable. Yet, these two statistics couldn't show more different facts if they tried hard. It's all about the manipulation. It's all about what part you tell and what part you leave out. It's all about who you poll. It's all about the answer you want, then do what you have to to get it. All news is like that. It's amazing that any of us ever tune in at all when most reasonable people know it's about 98% bull shit. I guess it's a matter of choice, or the lack there of.
posted by Dogman at 8:57 AM
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