Scandalous Statistical Manipulation Uncovered by Krugman

in this post on his blog.

No surprise here, someone appears to be deliberately misleading readers in pursuit of self-benefit.  Not exactly news, but it’s a ploy under-reported upon, effective, and widely applied.

I actually believe first year university-level statistics should be compulsary in high school.  More than the internet/computer (through in a related way), atomic energy, and the space age, we are in the midst of the Age of Statistics.  We are so inundated with data, easily stored, collected, and retrieved, that we have become reliant upon a statistical summary to capture our attention and drive our actions.

It reminds me of Wall-E, where humans have delegated the management of their visual field to a computerized display screen directly in front of their face (good-bye neck and ocular muscles!). We are effectively allowing deceptive people to provide the statistical presentation that guarantees a response on our side.  And they use the most basic ploys to juke the stats/alter the statistical purview.  Sadly, human energies must be applied to vigilance on the part of the news-reader to insure against being misled.  Thankfully, as far as I can tell, the deliberately massaged statistics are done so in fairly basic and obvious ways.  Once the arms race starts for this theater of the information control war, Lord knows where it will go.

… and the cow goes moo