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Some of the weird reaction to this type of comment is that being more scientifically accurate about the problem is perceived as being less persuasive about the

Some of the weird reaction to this type of comment is that being more scientifically accurate about the problem is perceived as being less persuasive about the importance of correcting the problem. Making the numbers more right doesn’t make the reality any less cruel, and more accurate numbers don’t seem to help persuade anyone to care. So it’s legitimate to say “could be better!”, but that’s often viewed as important relative to the issue itself: people can’t afford a home in America.

fho 5y ago
I just want to note that while housing prices are probably normally distributed, "minimum wage" is a "arbitrary" value that cuts of the long tail (effectively increasing average wages). As, per that definition, wages are now not normally distributed anymore it (statistically) does not even make sense to talk about average (i.e. mean) wages anymore. More anecdotally: I recently looked up mean and median wages in Germany. And what I found is that the median netto income (per employer) does not really differ from the netto income per household. I guess that means that the average German household only has one person working (while the other is probably taking care of potential kids).
gruez 5y ago
>Making the numbers more right doesn’t make the reality any less cruel, and more accurate numbers don’t seem to help persuade anyone to care. ...and that's how you end up with polarization with media. Neutral/objective reporting gets dropped because it "seem to help persuade anyone to care". It's replaced with misleading reporting optimized for shock value which gets a pass from one side because it fits in with their narrative, but is rejected by the other because of how biased it is.
- floatingatoll 5y ago
  Studies show that the narrative will be rejected just as strongly if it’s presented neutrally with facts alone. I don’t disagree with your point in general, but non-polarized news isn’t much more able to get through to opposed people than polarized news. It turns out to be more complicated, generally requiring personalized one-on-one conversations, and can’t really be scaled up to broadcast media.
stickfigure 5y ago
Why is the average rent meaningful? I mean, if you just want to generate big numbers, why not compare the minimum wage to luxury condos in the most expensive cities?
- floatingatoll 5y ago
  People in luxury condos don't care about rent prices, and renters can't empathize with people in luxury condos. Such a comparison alone does not provide any benefit to the conversation, until it's taken in the direction of Executive Compensation Multipliers and turned into an evaluation metric that everyone can comprehend and grasp, beyond just a standalone statistic.

fho 5y ago

I just want to note that while housing prices are probably normally distributed, "minimum wage" is a "arbitrary" value that cuts of the long tail (effectively increasing average wages). As, per that definition, wages are now not normally distributed anymore it (statistically) does not even make sense to talk about average (i.e. mean) wages anymore. More anecdotally: I recently looked up mean and median wages in Germany. And what I found is that the median netto income (per employer) does not really differ from the netto income per household. I guess that means that the average German household only has one person working (while the other is probably taking care of potential kids).

gruez 5y ago

>Making the numbers more right doesn’t make the reality any less cruel, and more accurate numbers don’t seem to help persuade anyone to care. ...and that's how you end up with polarization with media. Neutral/objective reporting gets dropped because it "seem to help persuade anyone to care". It's replaced with misleading reporting optimized for shock value which gets a pass from one side because it fits in with their narrative, but is rejected by the other because of how biased it is.

floatingatoll 5y ago
Studies show that the narrative will be rejected just as strongly if it’s presented neutrally with facts alone. I don’t disagree with your point in general, but non-polarized news isn’t much more able to get through to opposed people than polarized news. It turns out to be more complicated, generally requiring personalized one-on-one conversations, and can’t really be scaled up to broadcast media.

stickfigure 5y ago

Why is the average rent meaningful? I mean, if you just want to generate big numbers, why not compare the minimum wage to luxury condos in the most expensive cities?

floatingatoll 5y ago
People in luxury condos don't care about rent prices, and renters can't empathize with people in luxury condos. Such a comparison alone does not provide any benefit to the conversation, until it's taken in the direction of Executive Compensation Multipliers and turned into an evaluation metric that everyone can comprehend and grasp, beyond just a standalone statistic.