I See the Facts as I Want Them to Be

So, a report comes out and shows that Chicago has the highest murder rate of any alpha city in the world.

Note the conclusion the first two commenters immediately jump to: gun control! However, all of the cities with the lowest murder rates on the list have much stricter gun control than Chicago.

We tend to see what we want to see.

Comments

  1. Anonymous2:00 AM

    Well, there has been a lot of "thought engineering" in this area as of late, so why should this surprise you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is interesting, I think, that the sort of rampages we've become accustomed to are so rare in other parts of the world. I wonder if it has something to do with our mental health system. Switzerland has fairly liberal gun laws (due largely, of course, to their militia system), and yet when is the last time there was a school shooting in Switzerland?

    I think there is a huge cultural factor here which the focus on laws routinely misses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What do you mean by mental health system? I too think it's primarily a cultural difference but I haven't really looked into it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:58 PM

      Huff,

      Keep in mind that intelligence (as tested by standard tests) shows that intelligence can often be an environmental phenomenon, that people can move to a different region and actually increase their score.

      There is a lot more to this whole society thing, we just haven't fully cracked that nut just yet. The variables of such are immense.

      Delete
  3. "What do you mean by mental health system?"

    I'm wondering whether it's easier to commit people in other countries. (I don't know the answer to that.)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Libertarians, My Libertarians!

"Machine Learning"

"Pre-Galilean" Foolishness