Innumeracy
As the marsupial master of minuscule and coiner of the word “blogtopia”, skippy the bush kangaroo, notes, the winger study of profanity is tragiclly flawed by that scourge of the pundit classes –Innumeracy:
The term innumeracy was coined by cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter and popularized by mathematician John Allen Paulos. Possible causes of innumeracy are poor teaching methods and standards, and lack of value placed on mathematical skills. Even prominent and successful people will attest, sometimes proudly, to low mathematical competence, in sharp contrast to the stigma associated with illiteracy.
Consequences of innumeracy:
* Inaccurate reporting of news stories and insufficient skepticism in assessing these stories
* Financial mismanagement and accumulation of consumer debt, specifically related to misunderstanding of compound interest
* Loss of money on gambling, in particular caused by belief in the gambler’s fallacy
* Belief in pseudoscience, particularly when people use pseudoscientific information (i.e. astrology, etc.) to plan one’s life.
* Poor assessment of risk, for example, refusing to fly by airplane (a relatively safe form of transport) while taking unnecessary risks in a car (where an accident is more likely)
* Limited job prospectsPathological innumeracy, known as dyscalculia, is often associated with neurological lesions.
Of course, no one who pontificates ever expects to be subjected to the scientific method, where others repeat your experiment and compare results, as that is a cruel feature of reality.
Of course, this does nothing to assuage the disappointment of some on the Left who felt they deserved a much higher ranking in the original results. They might consider not wasting their profanity in other people’s comments, and save them for their own site, to improve their chances next time. I also think we should expand beyond the “unholy seven,” as they are certainly dated.
2 comments
Their methodology also sucked. Apparently they counted instances of “bad words” that appeared in comments and trackbacks, which the owner(s) of the site(s) in question are not responsible for. Not to mention the fact that the orcosphere is just as capable of being nasty and abusive as any liberal–and usually more so.
Let’s face it, when advocating the death of innocent civilians is not considered “bad,” but stating that you “fucked up a job interview” is a cardinal sin, your value system is a bit askew.
While there may be only sparse representation of the “horrible seven” here, I do use a few British terms that are not polite, and a Russian winger would faint dead away at some of the terms I once used as account names.
I’m on the verge of seriously raising my average if something isn’t done, soon, with the Democrats in control of Congress.