Lies, Damned Lies, and the other one.

[thebitterguy]

After the recovery of Cecilia Zhang, there was some discussion that centered around the stats proffered by missing children's groups that suggested thousands of missing children.

This week's editorial in Eye has a good examination of the stats they offered.

It's a good breakdown of the stats, and I think everyone needs to look at the theme: Kids aren't vanishing off the streets. Love them, protect them, street proof them. Don't terrorize them that every shadow holds a murderer. And don't do it to yourself, either.

In less depressing news, props to thespian for turning me onto Muppet Central. It is indeed time to play the music. And time to light the lights.

Comments

[tenzil.livejournal.com]

That is a fantastic editorial, thanks for the link.

[proemial.livejournal.com]

That article is a perfect example of why we need to understand the statistics that people toss around. I hate "imaginary numbers".

[thebitterguy]

The most important thing I learned in Journalism school is to always ask about statistics used to support a point. Even if they're popular well accepted stats.

[gurudata.livejournal.com]

Hiho,

87% of people agree that 93% of statistics are misleading. ;)

Cu,
Andrew

[mollpeartree.livejournal.com]

Kids aren't vanishing off the streets.

So true. Back in the 80's in the U.S. there was a widespread panic about child-abduction because of a few high-profile cases, and they were actually fingerprinting children in schools all across the country and whatnot. In the middle of it I read an article where a journalist had gone to the trouble of contacting the FBI to find out how many actual child-abduction-by-a-stranger cases they were currently investigating. The answer was "three."