this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2024
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US Authoritarianism
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This why statistics are so frustrating you can make them say anything.
I lament statements like this because I work with statistics and you can't just make them say anything. I hate that people use this to dismiss real facts.
You always have to look at the distribution, which is hard to do well. Simple statistics and averages hide so much detail, it's often ineptitude more than outright deceit.
You can't make statistics say anything, I agree. What happens is more sinister - cherry picking, misrepresenting, and falsely comparing statistics.
That does happen a lot unfortunately.
Usually people only want the statistics that confirm their preexisting positions and pick at anything else or ignore it.