"Figures don't lie, but liars figure." Aren't most of those liars politicians?
Asked by
ETpro (
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August 5th, 2011
Samuel Clemens (AKA Mark Twain) was the source of the famous quote above, which has been corrupted into the more familiar “Statistics never lie, but liars use statistics.” Another turn on it is, “Most people use statistics the way a drunk uses a lamp post, more for support than enlightenment.” Sure we all can use statistics in deceptive ways. But aren’t politicians trying to make a case that we all should give up what we have in order to support some crony or donor of theirs the prime offenders?
For lots more fun with statements on statistics, see this.
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I once heard an argument that politicians were all sociopaths. I rather liked it. Something about how in an electoral system, the people who want power the most will push for it the hardest… right into office.
No, plenty of other liars out there.
Statistics are biased and elastic. They don’t usually add much of value to a discussion but they sound good for supporting the speaker’s pov. They make the speaker seem more knowledgeable than he actually might be.
I think about the useless statistics used to fill airtime in NFL broadcasts: “The Steelers have lost 34% of games when the opposing quarterback has an R in his name.”
Man does that statement make me mad! I had a company president tell me that when I showed him how expensive it was to run the company truck. I was trying to get a reasonable mileage rate for field service guys using their own vehicles. I collected 2 years of data for vehicle expenses and he just blew it off.
We just saw both political parties do the same thing with 30 years of data.
and insurance companies, with their so-called standard fees. Our dental coverage is reduced from the promised 80% coverage, to approximately %50 coverage, because supposedly our dentist charges higher fees than other dentists.
Auto loss is based on a formula that ends up paying about ½ of what the replacement car costs.
@ratboy A politician! Shoot it before it reproduces!
@“Nullo“http://www.fluther.com/126975/figures-dont-lie-but-liars-figure-arent-most-of-those-liars/#quip2129593 That sure jobes with my observations.
@blueiiznh No question there is a legion of liars out there, but it seems politicl hacks and pundits take the prixe. They often are pushing for policies that woould hurt 99% of Americans because the 1% the policy would help have paid them handsomely to support their self-serving legislation.
@blueberry_kid Thanks.
@Blueroses While that’s a perfect example of statistics used incorrectly, it does not mean statistics are useless, only that those listening to them nee to understand how statistical analysis world. What is a useful measure, and what just reports on a given series of random samplings; which would vary every time you sampled it over some other time period.
@Ron_C Maybe a more accurate saying would be Statistics fon’t lie, but liars ignore them or invent their own.
@YARNLADY Never bet a man at his own game.
@ratboy Is that true?
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