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Most 'statistics' cited in the media are completely made up, this isn't at all unusual. I spent about 18 months trying to track down the primary source of every

Most 'statistics' cited in the media are completely made up, this isn't at all unusual. I spent about 18 months trying to track down the primary source of every interesting stat I could find, and most of them didn't pan out at all. There is a saying that "reality has a well-known liberal bias" because most left-leaning publications base their arguments on statistics, whereas most right-wing arguments are based on emotion. But in fact most of the statistics that used to support left wing policy are either completely made up (e.g. "137 million American adults don't have dental insurance") or else wildly misleading (e.g. the stats on college tuition increases), to the point where most of the arguments being made are completely divorced from reality.

munin 11y ago
> There is a saying that "reality has a well-known liberal bias you do know that was said by a comedian as a punchline in a standup routine, right?
- Alex3917 11y ago
  Really? The only thing that comes up via Google is Colbert using it to satirize the right.
  - dpark 11y ago
    It was from Colbert's White House Correspondents dinner speech in 2006. Not quite standup.
    - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
      No, that's pretty much the definition of standup.
      - dpark 11y ago
        {Shrug} Jokes+microphone doesn't make it standup. The content was closer to a roast than traditional standup. Especially given the satirical style, I wouldn't consider this to really be standup. But I also don't really care. I was just providing a reference to the specific event. Call it standup if you want.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
anexprogrammer 11y ago
The UK has a rather excellent radio programme devoted to explaining and debunking topical political and media statistics. Available as podcast with all back episodes for download. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qshd http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qshd
kjdal2001 11y ago
You might want to track down the primary source of that saying. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Colbert https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Colbert
vidarh 11y ago
> because most left-leaning publications base their arguments on statistics, whereas most right-wing arguments are based on emotion. But in fact most of the statistics that used to support left wing policy are either completely made up The claim you make in the first sentence above seems equally completely made up to me.
- Alex3917 11y ago
  > The claim you make in the first sentence above seems equally completely made up to me. Right, because it's outside the scope of science to put any sort of exact number on this. But how often do you hear arguments for right-wing positions (pro life, anti marriage equality, trickle down economics, abstinence-only education, war on drugs, etc.) that are actually based mostly or entirely on statistics? You certainly get folks who throw out a number or two are part of their talking points, but rarely do you get entire articles for these sorts of positions that revolve wholesale around some purported stat. Whereas by definition you can't really have an article about rising college tuition without some sort of statistics about college tuition, regardless of whether or not they're accurate. Same thing for income inequality, access to healthcare, the quality of the school system, etc.
  - vidarh 11y ago
    > that are actually based mostly or entirely on statistics? You certainly get folks who throw out a number or two are part of their talking points, but rarely do you get entire articles for these sorts of positions that revolve wholesale around some purported stat. The current right wing UK government is at present busy churning out statistics to "prove" why it's best for the UK to remain in the EU, for example. E.g most recently they've trotted out claim of worse GDP development outside the EU. The pro exit crowd in their own party is using exactly the same tactics in favour of their views. Both sides have focused strongly on numbers related to how it will affect the UK economy and immigration as those two areas seems to of greatest concern to the Conservatives. When it comes to education too, the right wing here is extremely preoccupied with numbers. Given your proposed list of "right wing positions", it may be that what you're seeing is arguments for predominantly religious positions that are basically too extreme for most European right-wing partes that'd be my frame of reference. Pro life, anti marriage equality, trickle down economics, abstinence-only education are all policies that are extreme fringe positions even on the right wing in most European countries (with the odd exception - e.g. stronger support for anti-abortion bills in the catholic countries, though that's crumbling even in places like Ireland), and of those only "trickle-down economics" is not tied to religion here. And trickle-down economics certainly does not survive any kind of focus on numbers, so the few people here who believe in that certainly won't drag out numbers. War on drugs is the only policy on your list there's fairly universal support for on the European right. Instead what we tends to see are arguments over the economy, taxes and costs of immigration, where in fact the right very often will be trotting out numbers.

munin 11y ago

> There is a saying that "reality has a well-known liberal bias you do know that was said by a comedian as a punchline in a standup routine, right?

Alex3917 11y ago
Really? The only thing that comes up via Google is Colbert using it to satirize the right.
- dpark 11y ago
  It was from Colbert's White House Correspondents dinner speech in 2006. Not quite standup.
  - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
    No, that's pretty much the definition of standup.
    - dpark 11y ago
      {Shrug} Jokes+microphone doesn't make it standup. The content was closer to a roast than traditional standup. Especially given the satirical style, I wouldn't consider this to really be standup. But I also don't really care. I was just providing a reference to the specific event. Call it standup if you want.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

anexprogrammer 11y ago

The UK has a rather excellent radio programme devoted to explaining and debunking topical political and media statistics. Available as podcast with all back episodes for download. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qshd http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qshd

kjdal2001 11y ago

You might want to track down the primary source of that saying. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Colbert https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Colbert

vidarh 11y ago

> because most left-leaning publications base their arguments on statistics, whereas most right-wing arguments are based on emotion. But in fact most of the statistics that used to support left wing policy are either completely made up The claim you make in the first sentence above seems equally completely made up to me.

Alex3917 11y ago
> The claim you make in the first sentence above seems equally completely made up to me. Right, because it's outside the scope of science to put any sort of exact number on this. But how often do you hear arguments for right-wing positions (pro life, anti marriage equality, trickle down economics, abstinence-only education, war on drugs, etc.) that are actually based mostly or entirely on statistics? You certainly get folks who throw out a number or two are part of their talking points, but rarely do you get entire articles for these sorts of positions that revolve wholesale around some purported stat. Whereas by definition you can't really have an article about rising college tuition without some sort of statistics about college tuition, regardless of whether or not they're accurate. Same thing for income inequality, access to healthcare, the quality of the school system, etc.
- vidarh 11y ago
  > that are actually based mostly or entirely on statistics? You certainly get folks who throw out a number or two are part of their talking points, but rarely do you get entire articles for these sorts of positions that revolve wholesale around some purported stat. The current right wing UK government is at present busy churning out statistics to "prove" why it's best for the UK to remain in the EU, for example. E.g most recently they've trotted out claim of worse GDP development outside the EU. The pro exit crowd in their own party is using exactly the same tactics in favour of their views. Both sides have focused strongly on numbers related to how it will affect the UK economy and immigration as those two areas seems to of greatest concern to the Conservatives. When it comes to education too, the right wing here is extremely preoccupied with numbers. Given your proposed list of "right wing positions", it may be that what you're seeing is arguments for predominantly religious positions that are basically too extreme for most European right-wing partes that'd be my frame of reference. Pro life, anti marriage equality, trickle down economics, abstinence-only education are all policies that are extreme fringe positions even on the right wing in most European countries (with the odd exception - e.g. stronger support for anti-abortion bills in the catholic countries, though that's crumbling even in places like Ireland), and of those only "trickle-down economics" is not tied to religion here. And trickle-down economics certainly does not survive any kind of focus on numbers, so the few people here who believe in that certainly won't drag out numbers. War on drugs is the only policy on your list there's fairly universal support for on the European right. Instead what we tends to see are arguments over the economy, taxes and costs of immigration, where in fact the right very often will be trotting out numbers.