Why do racists on Yahoo! Answers rely on supposition and anecdote rather than hard data such as statistics?

Question

Question after question make no reference to any basic facts: take, for example, the inference that British-born British citizens will soon be a minority in Britain. A cursory glance at the 2001 Census results demonstrates that the British-born are still 93 per cent of the British population. How difficult is it to check up on simple facts, especially on the internet? Racist sloganeers have a wondrous speakers' corner in the web.

Answer 1

Because that what racism is all about - ideas based on illogical, non-sensical thoughts and lacking in any real substance.

Answer 2

It'll be a long time until the brits are in the minority - but in some rather unpleasant northern towns this is close to being the situation. And from what kind of position are you interpreting the word racist? In modern day liberal britain racism seems to be a term fixed to the refering to immigration/religion or race in any negative sense - regardless of how well founded or truthful.

eg. Hackney - east london. Some people would say its a multicultural area - and others (after an extensive study into living standards in the uk) would say it is the worst place to live in the uk. And some of these "multicultural" northern towns you can pick up a house for a couple of thousand.

Im not sure if there is an area in the uk that is both "multicultural" and a desirable place to live.

Answer 3

Its always been the way with racists, They base their whole ideologies on half baked "facts" and "Statistics".
Most of the "surveys" done are often done with a specific bias, For instance you could survey one hundred people in a deprived area and ask them if they thought that living standards were acceptable and you would get a very high number saying "No", whereas if you did the same survey in a well off area you would most likely get the opposite.
Either way this can depending on the deviousness of the people wanting to use the data be made to lean one way or the other to suit their needs.
These so called "surveys" are being used unfortunately to influence the masses by being made out to represent the masses.

Through misinformation comes ignorance, from ignorance comes racism, sexism etc. It is only when the media are made to account for their misrepresentation will we actually have the "Real" facts on which to make our opinions truthfully.

Answer 4

There is a funny thing about statistics. Ask any economics professor. Statistics can and often are made or skewed to represent what the person asking the question wants the desired results to be. Example. I take a survey of the people you are referring to in your statement. However, I only take responses from people who are registered as citizens in England. Now is that a true test of the number of people in England? Probably not, considering that foreign nationals living in England are not considered citizens, although they may out number the "citizen" population. A census, as you may or may not know is taken by census takers, based on information that they collect. Are you trying to say that those census takers in England, didn't miss ONE person? And if they missed one, could they have missed More than One?
Your statistic doesn't make much sense. According to your statistic, 93% of the people born in Britain are British. That means that there are 7% of people who are born in Britain, who are not British. But what about the number of people born elsewhere and are now British citizens? And the number of people who were born elsewhere and are Not British citizens? Such as legal aliens. Or for that matter illegal aliens? So, the number of people who LIVE in Britain, who were born in Britain and Are British Citizens, may be and most likely are a great deal less than the 93% that you are inferring.

Answer 5

Can we argue with the Census NO! However what the Census does not record is the errosion of our homeland.

A way of life will disappear though hopefully it will rise again like a Pheonix from the ashes and evolve to encompass our heritage and make this country stronger more secure for all us living on this tiny island.

We cannot stem the wind of change but we can direct it along the right path. Though this will not happen if we do not learn to respect each other more.

We have to accept that we cannot turn the tide of inevitability..and that things have to change and hopefully for the better.

We all know about statistics and damn lies..........Don't we?

Answer 6

Statistics is one of the 3 types of lies according to M Twain. Supposition, how is it supposition to see something and comment on it. If you aren't from South Wales then you are likely to be from Scandinavia, immigrants, if you don't like something and you can't change it, then go somewhere where you do like it. Since YA is mainly about oppinions, it seems you are taking things too seriously. This is a very radical view, showing how narrow minded specific groups are. One of the thing to learn is that if someone has a problem with something then the problem is with them.

Answer 7

Good question but look, you have to go easy on these racist idiots. Your question has far too many words in it, especially long ones they couldn't possibly understand. No, not sloganeers, supposition or anecdote. I was thinking more of on and as.

You ask how difficult it is for these people to check up on simple facts. It's probably very difficult for them. Anyway, what use are facts to them if they don't agree with their own twisted version of events?

Answer 8

Hi Lefties,
Thought I'd add my two pence worth to this racist bashing open ended question/answer session.
By racist do you mean opposed to immigration? If yes, I am! Nowadays being labelled a racist is getting easier and easier. Is it possible to be nationalistic/ out for the good of the English, in your view on politics or is this considered racist? Check out immigration watch website for statistics. Plenty of strong statistics to help you question the biased opinions you have developed from the liberal mass media you have been bombarded with.
Do you honestly think the BBC is not biased for example? I happen to believe that with a liberal media vechile such as the BBC its hard to obtain a fair assessment of the news from just TV/radio as its so one-sided.
Open your eyes, question things. You are saying the Daily Mail is right wing if so I assume in saying this you are in fact left wing with a left wing agenda? What do you think?

Answer 9

Well, figures lie and liars figure. Therefore, if you rely on statistics, you'll most likely be as wrong as the person who made them up. Statistics are based on samples and samples are generally biased to favor the position of the person collecting them. The best way to get answers is to send out questionaires to several million people using their addresses as reported in the phone books. Therefore, you would get a true picture of what is going on. But, then again, the discriminatory manner in which the question is worded can also affect the answers.

Take, for example, the poll done in -- I think it was California -- where the way the question was worded affected the results of the poll.

Answer 10

Depends on wether or not the asker is looking for a general opinion or definative factual answer I suppose. Most facts can be found via a search engine so maybe its a public opinion and general 'feel' thats wanted...??

Answer 11

For precisely the same reason that some victims of racism rely on supposition and anecdote rather than hard data such as statistics?