Published: July 29, 2007 04:11 pm            

Michael B. Mager: Growing fast: Pinocchio’s nose and Belgians

Have you ever heard the saying, “Numbers never lie?” I’ve heard it over and over again. With the presidential elections coming up soon, we will see numbers lying so badly that noses will grow on both sides of the aisle. As I was reading the news today, I discovered a good case in point that might illustrate how carefully you have to read statistics. Now, keep in mind that most people who conduct studies want to prove something. This means that, for the most part, they are biased. Let me give you an example.

Some scholar, let’s call him Professor I.M. Lyon, applies for a grant to study whether apples are really oranges in disguise. If he finds that this is not true, he might not get funded for further research to prove whether lemons are really oranges in disguise, so he has to make sure that his statistics prove the whole thing about apples and oranges. The Applegrower’s Association happens to be funding his grant, so you read between the lines. If he does a whole bunch of research and finds out that apples are not oranges at all, he will not be able to make the payments on his Lexus, so he figures out a way to make the data fit the outcome.

Now to the article that was reported by The Associated Press. Some yokel did research that proved that Americans were no longer the tallest people in the world and that even nations like Belgium had people taller than us. Once upon a time, according to the research, Americans were the tallest people in the world. Now we aren’t. The reason, according to the research, is because the United States no longer has the best health care, neonatal care or nutrition in the world. I wouldn’t argue that point at all. I also wouldn’t argue the point that the nation that is arguably one of the wealthiest in the world does not seem to care that it does not have universal health care even for it’s children and its elderly.

Nowhere in this article does it state who funded the research that led to these conclusions, and yet that information is very important. I doubt very much that the research was funded by any managed health-care organization or that it was government funding.

The simple fact that’s not mentioned at all is that, in the past 50 years or so, America has been inundated by people who have come from countries with shorter people. Many of them immigrated here because they had very poor nutrition and health care and high child mortality in their countries of origin. People from Southeast Asia, Central America and Mexico are and have been people of small stature, and they now compose a much higher proportion of the population than ever before. Yet this is not mentioned anywhere in the article.

When reading press releases issued by politicians or academics, it’s sometimes just as important to consider what is not mentioned as what is mentioned. Keep that in mind as the elections roll around. After all, Professor I. M. Lyon might consider a run for the presidency.



Michael B. Mager is a frequent contributor and author of

the novel “The Golem”

and books for children.

        

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