Replying to LO27753 --
Fred, you wrote that
"In short, statistics are to buttress and defend, never to call into
question."
I have also grown into a cynic concerning the reportage we read both
"scientific" and "non-scientific." Somehow, your statement is too black
and white. As I see it, statistics can in one breath, so to speak, both
defend a position and cause others to question.
Listen, at the very least cannot a datum itself or a series of data, cause
in you or me a reactive questioning? And that's at the very least, so to
speak.
While the example of tobacco smoker has been beaten to a pulp, I'll deign
use it again. One smoker, with the planets so aligned, with the right wind
direction, and other coincidence at play, will for reasons nearly
unfathomable decide upon hearing a statistic to stop smoking.
Such a statistic has been generated by a political/social/moral force in
the hopes of saving humankind, reducing insurance premiums, etc. etc. They
have an agenda. They buttress and defend, but they also call into
question.
The current anti-drug TV advertising shows young abusers saying that they
do it for fun, while their comments are interspersed with sentences about
how at a distance these, shall we say, relatively affluent abusers cause
the death of innocents in other countries from whence the drugs come;
these abusers have unforeseen reach. The defense of such advertising is
the very ploy of discomfit generated by questioning.
Do I make any sense?
Thanks for your provocation!!
Warm regards,
Barry
-- Barry Mallis The Organizational Trainer 110 Arch St., #27 Keene, NH 03431-2167 USA voice: 603 352-5289 FAX: 603 357-2157 cell: 603 313-3636 email: theorgtrainer@earthlink.netLearning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
"Learning-org" and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.