04-28-2009, 02:40 AM
Good morning.
Let me point out again. There's no feud. If one feels that numbers are important enough to the topic that casual generalizations do not suffice--which I don't, but others may--the constructive thing to do is to inform the conversation by adding one's own numbers. I'm all about making the conversation and any conversation as well informed and rigorous as possible. Let's just make sure we all hold ourselves to the same standards. This is an important enough issue that stupid bickering is an unconscionable distraction.
As well lets attempt to understand the difference between "objective facts" such that they might be--which are subject to correction and rightly so, and "analysis" which is always subjective and subject to interpretation. I moved pretty quickly from one to the other no question. It happens a lot around here. It's important that one see the methodology before critiquing the conclusion--and well, I didn't post one, so no one is fairly in a position to critique it. Whether to ignore the difference either because of ignorance or deliberate attempts to be contentious does matter. It's not constructive.
Let me point out again. There's no feud. If one feels that numbers are important enough to the topic that casual generalizations do not suffice--which I don't, but others may--the constructive thing to do is to inform the conversation by adding one's own numbers. I'm all about making the conversation and any conversation as well informed and rigorous as possible. Let's just make sure we all hold ourselves to the same standards. This is an important enough issue that stupid bickering is an unconscionable distraction.
As well lets attempt to understand the difference between "objective facts" such that they might be--which are subject to correction and rightly so, and "analysis" which is always subjective and subject to interpretation. I moved pretty quickly from one to the other no question. It happens a lot around here. It's important that one see the methodology before critiquing the conclusion--and well, I didn't post one, so no one is fairly in a position to critique it. Whether to ignore the difference either because of ignorance or deliberate attempts to be contentious does matter. It's not constructive.