Re: American like Sam Shepard ( was guns and stuff)
bob pigeon (sid-vicious@mindspring.com)
Mon, 17 May 1999 22:39:59 -0700
>b) 45% of Americans have stated that they wouldn't bother going overseas
>because they could `see it all on television'
narrator: according to a recent poll, 25% of americans doubt that the
holocaust actually ever occurred
man: why--this is terrible! clearly the entire american educational system
is an abject failure! sweeping reforms must be instituted immediately
narrator: there's just one problem--the question was phrased
confusingly...and when it was stated more clearly in a second poll, that
figure dropped to ONE percent...
man: oh! heh, heh....never mind!
narrator: it serves to demonstrate how easily statistics can be
manipulated...a fact to keep in mind whenever you see "experts" on
macneil-lehrer or nightline waving numbers around
newscaster: --and 97% of the american people believe that this country's
official language should be pig latin!
other newscaster: eallyray? ellway, umbersnay on'tday ielay!
narrator: let's face it...most polls and statistics are nothing more than an
attempt to give opinions and ideology a veneer of scientific objectivity...
man: gosh--how often would you say that's the case?
sparky: oh, appox. 93.8% of the time
-- tom tomorrow