This is a simple and direct snapshot of the phrase, "Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics"...
People often use math (maths for those across that pond) that most misunderstand, including those using it, (statistics is most of them) to bolster weak arguments.
Let's use a real example:
1 person is sick in Elbert County, 2 more get tested and are positive... that's a 200% increase... While at the same time in NYC 25,000 are sick, 15,000 more get sick, 40,000 people now have the virus and it is spreading like wildfire... but only 37% more are sick... A lying statistician will say it is "Increasing at a faster rate in Elbert County than in all of NYC!" but the reality is still reality and it is hardly a danger in one place (Elbert County), but in the other with "less increase" it is spreading at an incredibly fast pace.
Then they look to see that Elbert County voted for Trump in record numbers.... Now we can really use this! That lying statistician looks for other places to find that in another state 1 sickness turned into 20... and as luck would have it that whole state voted for Trump!
Can you see how this works?
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
- -- Aristotle
Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you. Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto.
- -- The Buddha
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
- -- Aristotle
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