Quote:
Originally posted by Purrybonker
aw, relax already you hawks. You know, it might be productive if you absorbed information, added it to your mental data base and thought to yourself:
"gee that's interesting, but it conflicts a bit with my previous convictions and opinions or expectations in such matters. Perhaps I should use this new information to consider moderating my views in this and other areas."
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Riiiight. So any time some half-baked article that makes totally unsupported insinuations based on a single statistical point I should file it away as "education?"
Any bonehead can publish something on the internet but it does not mean I should dilute mine... Especially considering the rather inconclusive and insinuating nature of the original article you posted.
The first half article never made any conclusions except to cast aspersions at the US for having a high percentage of incarcerated citizens. What does that MEAN exactly? Does it mean we imprison people who shouldn't be? Does it mean that we wrongfully convict too many? Does it mean our people are more criminally minded than other countries?
THe writers and "quotees" of the article should have had the courage to make a conclusion... But of course, they CAN'T because the statistic is really meaningless without real research behind it.
The second bit said that minorities make up a disproportionately large percentage of the prison population, but again, no conclusions... Could it be because the judge and juries are racist, or just that those same people participated in a disproportionate percentage of crimes? Once more, no courage to do the research and form conclusions, just making totally unsupported insinuations of the "Evils of the US".
So tell me again how a couple of mathematical statistics without ANY support to make ANY conclusion should sway my opinion??... Any opinion I drew from it has a greater chance of being wrong than right.