Determining who the asshole is, and visualizing impersonal statistics

[pmb]

In any given situation, the person who is claiming that something is the end of the world is almost certainly an asshole. This is a handy rule of thumb, and applies pretty well across the board, with the possible exception of people talking about global thermonuclear war or other extinction-level threats (large asteroids, etc).

Also, the recent news that nobody seems to be talking about is that according to every peer-reviewed independent study, we have now killed more than 1,000,000 people in Iraq, either directly or indirectly, since 2003 as a result of this war. That is a lot of people - one six-thousandth of the world population, and 4% of the population of Iraq. Visualizing this from an Iraqi point of view resulted in this map. But honestly, this sort of number is way past "visualization" territory. Our government has, in the past 6 years, spent more than $500,000,000,000 on a stupid war, and this war has caused more than 1,000,000 people to die.

One million people. Dead. For what?

Comments

Yes, I'm a visualization geek

[amoken.livejournal.com]

While I think the purpose is laudable, lying with geographical visualizations is among my pet peeves. The 4% population figure is represented as almost a quarter of the total area. Because of the way they did this, the 15% is not much larger, and it appears the total 19% covers over half the area. It's a great idea, and it does mean something, but they're intentionally misleading the vast majority of people who don't tend to pay attention to details like population density. Many people will walk away thinking (maybe "feeling" is a better word) an equivalent of a quarter of the US population has been killed in Iraq.

That said, I know it's not meant to represent the data honestly. It's meant to shock people and stir them up. Mark Twain would be impressed.

Re: Yes, I'm a visualization geek

[akjdg.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and they started with a template that omits 1/6th the land mass of the U.S.

Sorry, as a citizen of one of the two colony-states, (an Alaskan), I feel obligated to shout 'notice me! notice me!' every now and then.

Re: Yes, I'm a visualization geek

[amoken.livejournal.com]

Good point! If they'd included your state, they could have made it look even more impressive! There are like five people who live there, right? ;)

(Two of my good friends are Alaskans, so I feel obligated to tease.)

Re: Yes, I'm a visualization geek

[akjdg.livejournal.com]

Hey now, we counted just last week, and thanks to Zed's six fingered foot, we were able to count, uh, 6 of us.

And we cancelled one of the two bridges to nowhere, so please stop laughing at us.

Only 1/12th* of our last legislative body and 2/3rds of our congressional delegation are currently under FBI investigation, so, hmm. Proceed to mock us again, I think.

* Actually, one has already been convicted, so I suppose he doesn't count as being under investigation.