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I'm actually more suspicious of anything claiming to be "non-partisan" than something that wears its foundational beliefs on its sleeves. At least if something
by ebbv 9y ago
I'm actually more suspicious of anything claiming to be "non-partisan" than something that wears its foundational beliefs on its sleeves. At least if something says "We are a Libertarian non-profit" or "We are a Socialist non-profit" or something like that, I know better what specific grain of salt to use when reading its materials.
Anything that claims to be non-profit is merely hiding the slant that its people have put on the data it is providing. The idea that anything can be presented free of the biases introduced by the people presenting it is a silly myth. Which is not to say people shouldn't make an effort to be fair and unbiased when trying to present facts, but we all have inherent biases that are basically impossible for us to remove ourselves.
- notheguyouthink 9y agoFair point! I should hope raw numbers are truly unbiased, though they could still include more graphs that paint the picture they're wanting to paint. Note that i've not yet seen the site, even with http it's under a nearly dead load haha.
- ebbv 9y agoUnfortunately which data they choose to show and how they frame it makes a big difference. There are objective facts but we all color them intentionally or unintentionally despite our best efforts.
- cookiecaper 9y agoRaw numbers will not be unbiased because people are involved in collecting them. That's true of anything that passes through human hands, but it's especially true in anything involving public policy, where it's understood that the opposing side will be looking for any slant they can get, which means the publishing side will be looking to CYA as much as they can get away with.