4 ms·

You seem to be extremely certain of your position and seem to find it impossible to believe that Robert Santos, the statistician in question, could have any mot

You seem to be extremely certain of your position and seem to find it impossible to believe that Robert Santos, the statistician in question, could have any motive other than a political one in sounding the alarm. However, "if people can pay their electric bill then surely they can respond to the census" is not a fact and it's not a logical argument, it's just your gut feeling, which you seem to find a superior source of truth to what experts are saying. Why?

woo49 6y ago
Robert Santos works for the Urban Institute which the LA times has called 'leading liberal think tank'. [1] It's impossible to read a comment about the census without looking at the political affiliation of who makes the comment. It's also unfortunately that articles like this don't make these affiliations clear. Gives fuel to 'fake news' and 'liberal media' arguments. [1] http://articles.latimes.com/1988-06-12/news/mn-7095_1_urban-institute http://articles.latimes.com/1988-06-12/news/mn-7095_1_urban-...
SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
I can imagine neutral, nonpolitical commentary on the census process, but that's not what Santos is offering. He says that the census wouldn't have been fair even if the count had been extended, due to factors such as "the public policy climate" and "toxic immigrant policies".
- stdbrouw 6y ago
  Santos does not offer neutral commentary, but he claims to offer objective commentary: it is objectively possible that public policy and immigrant policies will negatively affect the census. You can't discount that possibility and ignore the arguments made in favor of that possibility (read the article!) just because you don't like someone's politics.
  - SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
    I'm not discounting the possibility. But even if he's right on every objective question and we agree with his value judgments, a claim that we need immigration policy reform is inherently political, and we need to acknowledge that in order to effectively understand the situation.

woo49 6y ago

Robert Santos works for the Urban Institute which the LA times has called 'leading liberal think tank'. [1] It's impossible to read a comment about the census without looking at the political affiliation of who makes the comment. It's also unfortunately that articles like this don't make these affiliations clear. Gives fuel to 'fake news' and 'liberal media' arguments. [1] http://articles.latimes.com/1988-06-12/news/mn-7095_1_urban-institute http://articles.latimes.com/1988-06-12/news/mn-7095_1_urban-...

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago

I can imagine neutral, nonpolitical commentary on the census process, but that's not what Santos is offering. He says that the census wouldn't have been fair even if the count had been extended, due to factors such as "the public policy climate" and "toxic immigrant policies".

stdbrouw 6y ago
Santos does not offer neutral commentary, but he claims to offer objective commentary: it is objectively possible that public policy and immigrant policies will negatively affect the census. You can't discount that possibility and ignore the arguments made in favor of that possibility (read the article!) just because you don't like someone's politics.
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  I'm not discounting the possibility. But even if he's right on every objective question and we agree with his value judgments, a claim that we need immigration policy reform is inherently political, and we need to acknowledge that in order to effectively understand the situation.