This week in the OSD Discord, a subscriber posted this video from the early 1960s: It’s a history of gun culture in the US, focused largely on the military (which makes sense because it was produced by the Army). But at 15:35 it shifts gears to a section about how regular gun owners get punished for misuse of guns:
From the USC guide: "Black Americans are three times more likely to be killed at the hands of law enforcement."
Note the lack of the word "than". Your brain fills that part in with whatever your brain thinks is most appropriate. This is a common weasel way of presenting a statistic that is probably technically true, but in a way that is intended to mislead in some way. The best part is that it can mislead different people in different ways, depending on their own assumptions and biases, leading to inevitable arguments over what the statement means.
We are so accustomed to seeing this that it doesn't even register as a half statement grammatically or mathematically. "3x >" is nonsensical, but they get away with it all the time in narratives. Gun-related statistics are often presented this way, and it's another clever linguistic trick used by the grabbers.
OSD 224: The history of “this time it’s different”
From the USC guide: "Black Americans are three times more likely to be killed at the hands of law enforcement."
Note the lack of the word "than". Your brain fills that part in with whatever your brain thinks is most appropriate. This is a common weasel way of presenting a statistic that is probably technically true, but in a way that is intended to mislead in some way. The best part is that it can mislead different people in different ways, depending on their own assumptions and biases, leading to inevitable arguments over what the statement means.
We are so accustomed to seeing this that it doesn't even register as a half statement grammatically or mathematically. "3x >" is nonsensical, but they get away with it all the time in narratives. Gun-related statistics are often presented this way, and it's another clever linguistic trick used by the grabbers.
Start asking "Than what?"