I've been reading your smackdowns of the NYT since the days of the "SmarterTimes" column in the NY Sun print edition. You never disappoint. To reiterate what I've probably posted here before, on those rare occasions when I read something in the Times, I never feel like I’m learning or being informed—I feel like I’m being indoctrinated.
"How to lie with the truth" bears a lot of similarity to "How to lie with statistics". In statistics there is a methodology called "factor analysis" that allows one to determine which factors actually correlate with the data. Ira Stoll applies that approach here by noting that cellphones do not result in brawls at other schools that don't have a background of gang wars in their wider communities.
"How to lie with statistics" was the name of an influential book from the 1950s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Lie_with_Statistics, written not by a statistician but by a journalist. Ira Stoll should write a similar book about journalism itself called "How to lie with the truth".
I've been reading your smackdowns of the NYT since the days of the "SmarterTimes" column in the NY Sun print edition. You never disappoint. To reiterate what I've probably posted here before, on those rare occasions when I read something in the Times, I never feel like I’m learning or being informed—I feel like I’m being indoctrinated.
The Revere High School story distorts reality by downplaying the important information about drug gangs at the expense of information such as the role of cellphones that is true but not important. It is another illustration of the NYT following the strategy of "How to lie with the truth", as discussed in the 13 December edition of The Editors https://www.theeditors.com/p/iran-will-be-free-a-lot-sooner-than-people-think-netanyahu-regime-change-trump-ken-griffin-citadel-tariff
"How to lie with the truth" bears a lot of similarity to "How to lie with statistics". In statistics there is a methodology called "factor analysis" that allows one to determine which factors actually correlate with the data. Ira Stoll applies that approach here by noting that cellphones do not result in brawls at other schools that don't have a background of gang wars in their wider communities.
"How to lie with statistics" was the name of an influential book from the 1950s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Lie_with_Statistics, written not by a statistician but by a journalist. Ira Stoll should write a similar book about journalism itself called "How to lie with the truth".