One of the aspects of campaign commercials that I hate is "spin". It's use of "almost-truth" to shore up your candidate. One stat that is often used is deportations.
This article explains why many of the ads/news articles (too often, the same thing) can generate such different numbers, when discussing the same things. These very different numbers lead to the opposing conclusions that fuel the accusations of lying.
Neither side is technically lying - but, in many cases, one or BOTH are playing with definitions, using stats misleadingly, or extending a trend beyond what the data can justify (the "hockey stick" example).
Share
Correlation is not causation, but it can be awfully suggestive. (Francis Porretto, Bastion of Liberty)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'm Dragging
I had a tiring day yesterday - an exhausting medical test, involving much heavy breathing, and holding my breath to the point of lightheaded...
-
..Bad, bad, back! I'm out today from work (hate to do that, but I really am in bad shape). Can't get into the doctor's until M...
-
I work in a public school. As a result, I've occasionally been corrected - very gently, I must say - when I refer to the 2 week vacatio...
-
Illiteracy vs. Alliteracy Illiteracy is best defined as the INABILITY to read, or at read fluently. Alliteracy, on the other hand, occurs wh...
No comments:
Post a Comment