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That's incredibly dangerous. There is no such thing as an unbiased fact - by choosing what data to present and how to present it, they've already taken signific

That's incredibly dangerous. There is no such thing as an unbiased fact - by choosing what data to present and how to present it, they've already taken significant steps to influence how you make up your mind. Having a point of view is inevitable, but telling people you don't is insidious.

speeder 13y ago
This remembers me of Brazil murder statistics, they released two documents, one with general murders, and one with domestic murder, but that second has only data about women murdered, also some data across the two reports are presented in ways to imply that women are more common victims of domestic murders, and indeed various women rights groups cite that report. But if you take both reports, cross reference the data, and use maths to find hidden data, you find out that men are more murdered at home than women.
- hga 13y ago
  Does that latter fact perhaps reflect the Willie Sutton principle, per Wikipedia: "Sutton is known, albeit apocryphally, for the urban legend that he said that he robbed banks 'because that's where the money is.'" I.e. is one reason they being killed at home is because that's one place murderers will easily find them, plus with Brazil's gun control regime I'd assume they're almost as vulnerable there as on the streets. But bravo on digging deep into the statistics!
mildtrepidation 13y ago
There is no such thing as an unbiased fact... This is incorrect. Facts do not have bias by definition; only the presentation of a fact can show bias. If you're showing all of the data you have objectively, you're at least limiting the bias you introduce to what was present in the collection method. It's difficult if not impossible to completely remove bias from the entire process from experiment design to execution to reporting, but that does not mean that bias is somehow intrinsic in data. Having a point of view is also not the same as making a biased presentation. Stating your point of view (if you have one on the data you're working with, which also is not absolutely guaranteed) is a great way to establish credibility, but the presence of an opinion does not guarantee the presence of bias in presented results. Telling people you don't have an opinion when you do? Yes, that's lying. So obviously it's not a good thing, particularly in this context. But you're making assumptions here that don't really fly.

speeder 13y ago

This remembers me of Brazil murder statistics, they released two documents, one with general murders, and one with domestic murder, but that second has only data about women murdered, also some data across the two reports are presented in ways to imply that women are more common victims of domestic murders, and indeed various women rights groups cite that report. But if you take both reports, cross reference the data, and use maths to find hidden data, you find out that men are more murdered at home than women.

hga 13y ago
Does that latter fact perhaps reflect the Willie Sutton principle, per Wikipedia: "Sutton is known, albeit apocryphally, for the urban legend that he said that he robbed banks 'because that's where the money is.'" I.e. is one reason they being killed at home is because that's one place murderers will easily find them, plus with Brazil's gun control regime I'd assume they're almost as vulnerable there as on the streets. But bravo on digging deep into the statistics!

mildtrepidation 13y ago

There is no such thing as an unbiased fact... This is incorrect. Facts do not have bias by definition; only the presentation of a fact can show bias. If you're showing all of the data you have objectively, you're at least limiting the bias you introduce to what was present in the collection method. It's difficult if not impossible to completely remove bias from the entire process from experiment design to execution to reporting, but that does not mean that bias is somehow intrinsic in data. Having a point of view is also not the same as making a biased presentation. Stating your point of view (if you have one on the data you're working with, which also is not absolutely guaranteed) is a great way to establish credibility, but the presence of an opinion does not guarantee the presence of bias in presented results. Telling people you don't have an opinion when you do? Yes, that's lying. So obviously it's not a good thing, particularly in this context. But you're making assumptions here that don't really fly.