hal@finney.org wrote:
> The moral is that while the networks may have been guilty of simplistic
> analysis by focusing solely on vote totals, it may also be wrong to
> focus solely on percentages. Hal
Why? Sorting either by total Buchanan votes or by
size of the county is sorting by an irrelevant statistic. Why should
the size of the county be a factor? If you arbitrarily drew two
lines to quadrisect Palm Beach county, the charts formed by
such sorting would change the picture significantly. On the other
hand, all four quadrants of a chart sorted by percentage of Buchanan
votes should be unchanged by the arbitrary division, that is, all
four quadrants should still be a moderately Buchanan-favorable
0.79%. So they like Buchanan down there in Palm Beach, that
should not be a shocker. Some other counties like him even better.
Do we really wish to argue that high population *density* should
lead to a lower *percentage* of legitimate Buchanan votes? Why?
Do allow me to put another spin on this that is relevant to extropians.
We know that the press can plant an idea in the minds of the masses.
What was done was to contact a telemarketing firm, which called a
bunch of people, thousands, and *planted in their brains* the idea
that they may have voted for the wrong guy, which they responded
to en-mass. There were more people who signed petitions saying
they may have mistakenly voted for Buchanan than there were
Buchanan votes!
The scary part of this is that the press has such power to influence
the masses, and that this may someday be very destructive to what
extropians wish to accomplish. For instance, suppose truly dramatic
breakthrus begin to be made in life extension. Could not the press
jump all over this, and plant in the minds of the masses the idea that
a few wealthy technocratic elite have discovered the fountain of
youth, which you, the poor victimized downtrodden proletariat, will
never be able to afford, but which will result the overpopulation of
our delicate planet and in your grandchildren and their grandchildren
to being robbed of their future and ground into poverty for perpetuity, etc.
This display of power by the press is quite disturbing. spike
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:50:20 MDT