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A notable example is the way that gun violence data has been continuously and specifically suppressed by those who oppose gun control in the US (e.g: the Dickey
by Latty 6y ago
A notable example is the way that gun violence data has been continuously and specifically suppressed by those who oppose gun control in the US (e.g: the Dickey Amendment, which had an extreme chilling effect on the CDC studying gun violence).
Unfortunately, it is common for those with power to see the data as a stick they can be beaten with rather than as a tool to do better.
Of course, an example of the negative potential also comes to mind: recently we got proof of extreme gerrymandering done using racial data. Obviously that isn't to suggest that data shouldn't exist, but more to underline your last point: fundamentally it can only be beneficial if people come to it in good faith.
- throwaway894345 6y agoI don’t see how this comment relates to my post or the broader conversation at all. This seems highly off-topic.
- Latty 6y agoWell, my intent was to highlight that there is a similarity: those deciding how (or if) this data should be collected wish to suppress it because they believe it would result in change when they are invested in the status-quo. Fundamentally trying to insulate data collection from those with invested with the status-quo (in all situations) would be sensible.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago>is the way that gun violence data has been continuously and specifically suppressed by those who oppose gun control Last I checked they were happily singing out about the data because legal gun owners shoot statistically nobody and military style arms kill statistically nobody compared to career criminals with boring old handguns (who mostly kill each other because they can't rely on the courts to mediate their disputes).