More Questions

More Questions?

As we begin 2013, the questions in my head continue.  There are times when I ponder a variety of topics that either amaze or completely confuse me.  When I ask others for answers, they look at me with bewilderment, shake their heads and walk away.

For example...there is a sign being shared on Facebook as follows:

It tries to convince people that guns are less dangerous than hammers, knives, drunk drivers and doctors.  Here's the catch, how many massacres have you read about in the United States by people with hammers?  Or knives? Or drunk drivers?  Or incompetent doctors?

The large majority of deaths caused by hammers usually involved either domestic abuse or robberies; the same with knives.  At no time in our history as anyone murdered 26 people with a hammer.

The bottom line talks about 195,000 people were killed in 2011 by medical malpractice...what a deceptive number.  According to the American Medical Association, the number of deaths in 2011 that "may" have been caused by medical malpractice was closer to 98,000.  Yes, that is still too high, but to use 195,000 as a figure is pure deception on the part of whoever developed the poster.

Remember, the medical malpractice number is for 2011, and not during any time of Obamacare.  Trying to link medical malpractice in 2011 to Obamacare, which is not yet fully employed, is another turn of pure deception.

Deaths by hammers, knives, and drunk drivers are not well thought out plans to intentionally go and murder a large number of people.  

I am not here to advocate gun control, but let's look at the numbers realistically and in proper context, instead of trying to skew the figures to push an agenda.  

There are arguments from both the pro-gun and anti-gun lobbies that use numbers, to scare everyone, in order to push their respective agendas.  

In my past, I taught a course in Statistics for the Department of Defense for 4 years.  I learned that anyone can take numbers, and use "spin" to reach a pre-conceived result.

For example, based purely on existing statistics, I could find the number of drunk drivers that were right-handed.  Then, I could also use numbers to generate a statistic to "prove" that right-handed drunk drivers were the "true" cause of deaths in the majority of deaths resulting from drunk drivers.  Someone reading these numbers could come to the obvious conclusion that right-handed drivers should be a priority when screening for drunken driving performance.

I can see the furor that would create...all right-handed drivers should be profiled, or if you see someone weaving on the road, but the driver is left-handed, there is a small percentage that the driver will cause an accident resulting in deaths.

Of course, we are never given a balanced perspective, when statistics are thrown at us by the media, focus groups or anyone else pushing an agenda.  It is up to us, as the American public and as individuals to understand that the statistics being shoved down our throats are intentionally meant to sway our opinion one way or another.

Then again, we are also the same group of voters that re-elect these ineffective politicians over and over again.  If we can't understand how we are being led around by the nose, by the use of statistics, I'm afraid we have no one to blame, but ourselves for the continued chaos that plaques our country on so many levels.