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Excerpt From Damned Lies And Statistics By Joel Best

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Excerpt From Damned Lies And Statistics By Joel Best
“Excerpt from Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from Media, Politicians, and Activists” by Joel Best described how numbers and statistics can be used to skew the view and opinion of the public. Using numbers that aren’t always actually false, statistical analysis can be used to support either sides of an argument. I found it interesting how you can find two numbers that have wildly different outcomes even when the numbers are technically correct. On top of this American as a whole is a large, sometimes ignorant, consumer of knowledge; believing any number they see on a news outlet or from a reputable source.

In class we talked about how the number of homeless citizens was difficult to calculate. Taking into account the time

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