O'Reilly does not understand the most basic concepts regarding percentages and statistics. How can he be trusted to offer any kind of news analysis if he does not understand the relevant math any normal 12 year old would?
Watch this: O'Reilly "explains" that the U.S. naturally has a shorter life expectancy than Canada because we have ten times more people. That means ten times as many accidents, crimes, and so on.....
That was July 27th. Apparently no one at FOX has been able to explain the most rudimentary ideas in statistics to him since then. Watch him make the same mistake here, August 3rd. After it is pointed out that (approx.) 40% of Americans have tried pot, and only 22% of people in the Netherlands have, he seems to think this explains it:
"The way they do statistics in the Netherlands is different. Plus, it's a much smaller country, a much smaller base to do the stats on."
It seems like he is saying the population over there is smaller, so naturally a smaller percentage of people have tried pot-----so he is missing the whole point of what percentages mean. What an incredible idiot!
FOX News should have their licensing pulled for their irresponsible standards regarding news reporting in the US. There needs to be some sort of standard.
It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. It's called living. -Terry Pratchett
4 comments:
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, (catches breath) ha ha ha ha ha.
40% is not less than 20%. When do they teach percentages? 3rd grade, maybe? Back to elementary school for you, Billy.
This IS the standard... Sad.
Good lord. This reminds me of a report I once heard on the local news in Toledo: "A sobering statistic just in. A new survey shows that a full 50% of Toledo families fall below the median income level."
Good one Mimi!
Post a Comment