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Uh...I'm American and am intimately familiar with the level of statistical reasoning that informs our political discourse.

by 100k 17y ago

evgen 17y ago
And what country does any better? "People" as a general class are woefully educated in statistics around the world, or at least all share the common ability to turn off their ability to make rational decisions based on statistical evidence whenever their favored group is not supported by the available statistical evidence.
- abstractbill 17y ago
  Having lived for large amounts of time in both the UK and the US, I would say the level of political discourse in the UK is generally higher than in the US (I attribute this mostly to a very strong and reasonably independent media in the UK that's really not afraid to hold feet to the fire and ask intelligent questions, and usually doesn't "dumb things down").
  - hga 17y ago
    Was this true before 1986 (the Wapping dispute)? In Gerald Warner's ... eulogy to Michael Foot, "champion of the closed shop" (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/100028361/stockholm-syndrome-rules-as-journalists-laud-michael-foot-champion-of-the-closed-shop/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/100028361/sto...), he relates this bit of relevant history: "One day in the mid-1970s, shortly after having a comment article published in the Daily Telegraph and while I was wondering, with the enthusiasm of youth, if journalism might be my métier, I bumped into an official of the NUJ who rejoiced in the title of “Father of the Chapel”, or some such quasi-masonic honorific, who told me he had seen the piece. “I hope you are remembering,” he said, “you are only allowed to publish two pieces a year (or perhaps it was a couple more) without an NUJ card… And just try getting one, you Tory b——,” he added with a sardonic laugh." On the other hand I don't know squat about ITV and any other independent electronic media, and there's always magazines like The Economist which I hope didn't also live in a closed shop environment.

Uh...I'm American and am intimately familiar with the level of statistical reasoning that informs our political discourse.

by 100k 17y ago

Uh...I'm American and am intimately familiar with the level of statistical reasoning that informs our political discourse.

evgen 17y ago

And what country does any better? "People" as a general class are woefully educated in statistics around the world, or at least all share the common ability to turn off their ability to make rational decisions based on statistical evidence whenever their favored group is not supported by the available statistical evidence.

abstractbill 17y ago
Having lived for large amounts of time in both the UK and the US, I would say the level of political discourse in the UK is generally higher than in the US (I attribute this mostly to a very strong and reasonably independent media in the UK that's really not afraid to hold feet to the fire and ask intelligent questions, and usually doesn't "dumb things down").
- hga 17y ago
  Was this true before 1986 (the Wapping dispute)? In Gerald Warner's ... eulogy to Michael Foot, "champion of the closed shop" (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/100028361/stockholm-syndrome-rules-as-journalists-laud-michael-foot-champion-of-the-closed-shop/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/100028361/sto...), he relates this bit of relevant history: "One day in the mid-1970s, shortly after having a comment article published in the Daily Telegraph and while I was wondering, with the enthusiasm of youth, if journalism might be my métier, I bumped into an official of the NUJ who rejoiced in the title of “Father of the Chapel”, or some such quasi-masonic honorific, who told me he had seen the piece. “I hope you are remembering,” he said, “you are only allowed to publish two pieces a year (or perhaps it was a couple more) without an NUJ card… And just try getting one, you Tory b——,” he added with a sardonic laugh." On the other hand I don't know squat about ITV and any other independent electronic media, and there's always magazines like The Economist which I hope didn't also live in a closed shop environment.