As many as 70 percent of cola drinkers prefer ... " is a refrain that usually loses our attention instantly. And well it should. The "As many as" means that research showed that any number from 0 percent to 70 percent showed the preference.
In Tainted Truth: The Manipulation of Fact in America, author Cynthia Crossen picks apart surveys, commercial research, government data, lawyers' misuse of statistics, polls of all kinds, and the manifold other ways that facts and figures can be made to stand on their hind legs and pretend they're smarter than they are. Many of the anecdotes are staggering examples of effrontery.
Is anything to be trusted? Crossen shows that the halls of academe have been polluted by commercial interests. The government has its own agendas. And everybody engages in doubletalk.
The book teems with juicy examples that will get your dander up, but it also exhibits some of the glibness that it decries. In one glaring example, Crossen attacks a study supporting disposable goods by asking, "If it is so economical to use disposables, why have they not replaced glass, china, and stainless steel in every home in America?" conveniently ignoring important factors such as aesthetics and tradition.
I would have liked to have seen a less popularized analysis. The book ends with a set of ethical standards that would do much good if somehow implemented. But best of all would be to imbue people with the attitude Harry Truman expressed in a memo Crossen quotes: "I wonder how far Moses would have gone if he'd taken a poll in Egypt. What would Jesus Christ have preached if he'd taken a poll in Israel?... It isn't polls or public opinion of the moment that counts. It's right and wrong."
Tainted Truth: The Manipulation of Fact in America, by Cynthia Crossen, US$23. Simon & Schuster: (800) 223 2348, +1 (515) 284 6751.
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