Why are Americans so obsessed with stats and figures??

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Seriously, its driving me crazy! You can't define everything by charts. Its like when i used to watch the golf, they bringing up statistics all the time. When i argued with people on myspace forums they were using them, or going by stereotypes, is that cause a lot of people from the US don't go outside their own country so they have to depend on stereotypes? And when i've discussed politics its always 70% of this or that, etc etc

Well... Statistics are important when discussing politics. A lot of debate regarding politics has to be focussed on the use (often the manipulation) of statistics. For example, how can we discuss GDP, pollution levels, crime rates or inflation without referring to statistics. Statistics become even more important to politics when those debating the issues are more pragmatic than idealistic.

but they don't just use them for politics. Plus I don't think statistics can always be relied on for politics.

That one's easy: statistics are so easily manipulated, yet people believe that "statistics don't lie".

yep, true

I hate the constant use of statistics as well. Everyone tries to use them to prove some kind of point, despite the fact that most statistics are manipulated to fit someone's agenda. When people pull out the numbers, I am ready to tell them how easily it is to manipulate the numbers. I always have to ask, "What do people you know experience?"

"...is that cause a lot of people from the US don't go outside their own country so they have to depend on stereotypes?"

Not trying to jump on anyone here but isn't that a stereotype in itself? Oh well.

I think that it is easier to compare numbers than comparing words and that is why statistics are used as they are. Yes, they are overused greatly and often times used to mislead. <u>How to lie with statisitcs</u> is a good book. AlGore's hockey stick graph is a good example of how to lie with statistics.

The current use or overuse of statistics in the media comes from the "PowerPoint" mentality where words are not enough to convey an idea but words with a pretty graphic are now the norm. Baseball uses a whole bunch of statisitcs so maybe it is an American thing but I'm only right about such things 90% of the time anyway.

As an American and a media insider (photographer) I can tell you a little about why that occurs. When a journalist (or more likely an intern) does research on, say murders in Detriot, they find numbers that corespond with the story. If it is an anti-gun piece, they will look for numbers that support the story. This is partly bias and partly laziness. But it is not an American thing. All sports fans worldwide have stats and numbers memorized.
I do critize the American media for treating the reader and view as dumb, this is a long standing policy to write so that a fifth grader can understand. but I don't this is American only either.
I really don't let any of this bother me too much, there are plenty of other concerns.

haha f**k, I kinda contridicted myself there

yeah, but with seeing European golf and American, I can say that the US coverage is full of statistics, even the European commentators say about it.

As Lord Kelvin said, "when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind."

dont ask us. ask those old men in suites that we call "the government"

Its an opinion, we don't wanna all end up like computers

It only bothers me when they keep presenting statistics in IMPERIAL!

Bloody hell, yanks, it's the twenty-first century!! ! GET WITH IT!

I can't understand any statistics or figures from America, not without a my little Imperial-metric converter programs I keep on my phone and PDA.

Still, the word "gallon" is fun to say. Can never bloody well remember how many litres it is, but, still...

No, quite wrong. The USA has never used the Imperial system. The USA uses the older English system. The Imperial system was adopted after the US broke away, so we never adopted it. Many of the units have the same names, but they actually measure different quantities. Don't blame us. WE didn't decide to come up with another system of measurement that re-used old names. That was Parliament's fault.



We are with it. Why chain ourselves to a fad invented in the 19th century by a pack of Frenchmen?



You'd just love "pottle", then. It used to be the standard size in which beer was sold. What was a pottle? Ever wonder why the traditional English system of liquid measure had a "jump" in it?

The system as most people know it is thus:

1 gallon = 4 quarts = 8 pints = 16 cups. Notice that it is a degenerate system of multiplication by two. Why is it degenerate? Because a unit fell out of use for some reason. The older system was thus:

1 gallon = 2 pottles = 4 quarts = 8 pints = 16 cups = 32 gills.

Of course, when it comes down to volume, the only one that you really need to know is the Pint. This is because a pint of water is roughly equal to a pound in weight--if you don't use the Imperial system, of course. The Imperial system messed everything up enormously.

Thanks for clarifying.