If "everyone knows" something -- but the truth can't be independently verified, then perhaps you should be the one who questions what "everybody knows."
One thing "everybody knows," thanks to incessant propaganda and misleading statistics, is that guns are more likely to endanger their owners and owners' children than to prevent crime. This isn't true, but the myth has prevented many women (the very people who most need the equalizing protection of firearms) from learning to use guns and effectively protecting their families. How many have become victims as a result of this single bit of propaganda?
Anybody claiming to be "just plain folks" probably isn't.
When 40,000 "gun-control" advocates showed up in Washington calling themselves the "Million Mom March," they weren't merely using biased (and inaccurate) language.
They were trying to give a grassroots appearance to an effort driven by millions of dollars in foundation funding and deep political connections. (The media forgot to tell us that the "ordinary housewife" who organized the group was a former press secretary for Dan Rather who also had family connections to the Clintons.)
*"Three million Americans homeless,"* *"12 students killed by gun violence every day."* *"Average home price rises."*
Unless you've personally reviewed the data and the methodology, assume all statistics are untrustworthy. In the three examples given here, the one about homelessness was simply made up by political activist Mitch Snyder and repeated for years by irresponsible journalists. The claim about dead students rests on several bizarre assumptions: first, that anyone under 24 is a "child," then that all "children" are "students," then there's a dollop of sheer imagination added on top of that.
The one about "average" home prices ... well, if you understand the differences between "means," "medians," "averages," and "modes," you can come up with almost any "average" house price you want, depending on whether your aim is to puff up the status of a community or lower its property taxes.
Remember, "everybody" once knew you could "scientifically" detect a person's character by feeling the bumps on his head. "Everybody" once knew women shouldn't be educated because all that brainwork would draw energy away from their reproductive organs. "Everybody" once knew the earth was flat. It's remarkable how often "everybody" gets it wrong. - Claire Wolfe
One thing "everybody knows," thanks to incessant propaganda and misleading statistics, is that guns are more likely to endanger their owners and owners' children than to prevent crime. This isn't true, but the myth has prevented many women (the very people who most need the equalizing protection of firearms) from learning to use guns and effectively protecting their families. How many have become victims as a result of this single bit of propaganda?
Anybody claiming to be "just plain folks" probably isn't.
When 40,000 "gun-control" advocates showed up in Washington calling themselves the "Million Mom March," they weren't merely using biased (and inaccurate) language.
They were trying to give a grassroots appearance to an effort driven by millions of dollars in foundation funding and deep political connections. (The media forgot to tell us that the "ordinary housewife" who organized the group was a former press secretary for Dan Rather who also had family connections to the Clintons.)
*"Three million Americans homeless,"* *"12 students killed by gun violence every day."* *"Average home price rises."*
Unless you've personally reviewed the data and the methodology, assume all statistics are untrustworthy. In the three examples given here, the one about homelessness was simply made up by political activist Mitch Snyder and repeated for years by irresponsible journalists. The claim about dead students rests on several bizarre assumptions: first, that anyone under 24 is a "child," then that all "children" are "students," then there's a dollop of sheer imagination added on top of that.
The one about "average" home prices ... well, if you understand the differences between "means," "medians," "averages," and "modes," you can come up with almost any "average" house price you want, depending on whether your aim is to puff up the status of a community or lower its property taxes.
Remember, "everybody" once knew you could "scientifically" detect a person's character by feeling the bumps on his head. "Everybody" once knew women shouldn't be educated because all that brainwork would draw energy away from their reproductive organs. "Everybody" once knew the earth was flat. It's remarkable how often "everybody" gets it wrong. - Claire Wolfe
