Freakin’
Posted on March 1, 2007 - Filed Under Books |
"Freakonomics" was on my desk to read. I finished it. Needless to say, I enjoyed it.
There is a section of this book, dealing with real estate. But that’s another topic for another time. This article deals with interpretation of data.
When a media expert says "Think this way" I reach for my bottle of malox. Their reasoning is "If you look at the data . . ." And surprise surprise surprise no data is given.
I’m fully aware various news sources will print "the news" and get an expert who agrees with their theory. Just this past week, two news article who claim to look at the same data, declared the housing market to be either in a wreck or on the road to recovery. Which is the general public to believe?
In Freakonomics, the media scare tactic is addressed. Using "experts", the media creates fear where it wants to create fear. His discussion of "perceived threat" versus the "real threat" was quite compelling. The author references children dying in gun related accidents are a fraction of children dying in swimming pool accidents. Parents refuse to let their child play at a house that has a gun, for fear their child may be shot. Yet there is no problem sending their child to a swimming pool. The difference is there’s a 100 times greater chance the child will drown versus shot.
Don’t forget your sunscreen.
Yet because of the intense media coverage of a shooting, swimming pools are largely ignored.
Unless you’re Tommy Lee.
If the Freakonomics reader disagrees with what the author is saying,
the data is provided for the reader to scrutinize. One can draw their
own conclusions, based on the data. A nice touch.
Admittedly the author’s assertion that Sumo Wrestling is fixed did not sit well with me. Sumo Wrestling is as pure as Professional Wrestling and horse racing. There’s no "fixing" going on.
Nope. None at all.
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