tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13562046.post111997562612991874..comments2023-10-30T10:31:52.321+00:00Comments on Infinitives Unsplit: Statistics and the G8Tim Worstallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13161727860817121071noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13562046.post-1120475533433898392005-07-04T12:12:00.000+01:002005-07-04T12:12:00.000+01:00Hmm, the city's still standing so far. (Have I doo...Hmm, the city's still standing so far. (Have I doomed her by saying this out loud?)<BR/><BR/>Am in complete agreement with regard to the absurdity of Soviet chic. It is also odd that 'Nazis' has become an indiscriminate insult, while 'Communists' has not - I get the impression that rightish people use 'Commie' with at least approximate accuracy to describe someone whom they believe to have very left wing tendencies. (Whether this perception is always accurate is another matter.) In contrast, I was in a pro-life (peaceful and quiet) demonstration, when a passing chap shouted 'Nazis!' The supposed connection between opposing abortion and supporting National Socialism, or even general right-wingery, is quite beyond my grasp.Boecianahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09805771184166935639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13562046.post-1120238634094212352005-07-01T18:23:00.000+01:002005-07-01T18:23:00.000+01:00Simon,Quite probably. But his substantive point - ...Simon,<BR/><BR/>Quite probably. But his substantive point - that it is peculiar, if not actually wrong, that left wing dictators are apparently OK for branding when "right wing" ones are not - is still spot on. The whole point is that whilst we all agree that these sorts of comparisons are odious precisely because they are ALL odious, the communists somehow appear not to be odious. Which is odd.<BR/><BR/>MY point, is that the numbers involved are so staggeringly, incomprehensibly large that we cannot, err..., comprehend them.<BR/><BR/>I hope that my little analogy in this post allows us to get a sense of just how horrific these regimes were, even if some of the deaths were only "exacerbated by government economic policies". <BR/><BR/>"exacerbated by government economic policies". hmmm... That's a nice little euphemism.The Pedant-Generalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08738418480281658868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13562046.post-1120149789836817642005-06-30T17:43:00.000+01:002005-06-30T17:43:00.000+01:00Hmmm.... A very interesting point this one. I'm no...Hmmm.... A very interesting point this one. <BR/><BR/>I'm not <I>quite</I> so sure that you are completely right though. I think that, <I>in general</I>, most of us - even the Bollinger Bolsheviks - recognise that the KGB were really pretty unsavoury. [/Typical Stoic British Understatement]<BR/><BR/>I suspect that you are right that the Sun et al wouldn't have picked it up, but only because the readership of the Sun wouldn't instantly recall who the KGB are/were, let alone recognise the relevant insignia and the story would therefore have been harder to tell/sell. <BR/><BR/>Where you are absolutely smack on the money is the hypocrisy: if he had shown up dressed as <I>Lenin</I>, or possibly even Stalin, he could very likely have got away with it. Communism appears to have "irony value". <BR/><BR/>Thank you for adding to the mix, though.The Pedant-Generalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08738418480281658868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13562046.post-1120140073639937112005-06-30T15:01:00.000+01:002005-06-30T15:01:00.000+01:00Oh well, what about "The Outlier in Chief"?Oh well, what about "The Outlier in Chief"?deariemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06654632450454559188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13562046.post-1120137378978919482005-06-30T14:16:00.000+01:002005-06-30T14:16:00.000+01:00Brilliant. You are absolutely correct: Give that m...Brilliant. You are absolutely correct: Give that man a Pedantry medal!<BR/><BR/>In fact, I think I shall adopt a new strapline:<BR/><BR/>"The Pedant-General in Ordinary: Proud to be 3 sigma from the mean"<BR/><BR/>Somehow "The Pedant-General in Ordinary: Statistically Insignificant" doesn't have quite the same ring...The Pedant-Generalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08738418480281658868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13562046.post-1120137083937568922005-06-30T14:11:00.000+01:002005-06-30T14:11:00.000+01:00You are not a "statistic" you are a "data point". ...You are not a "statistic" you are a "data point". Unless, of course, they take a scunner to you, in which case you will be rejected as a mere "anecdote".deariemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06654632450454559188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13562046.post-1120123102997577662005-06-30T10:18:00.000+01:002005-06-30T10:18:00.000+01:00And had there been no Lenin, there would have been...And had there been no Lenin, there would have been no Stalin, Hitler, Mao......deariemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06654632450454559188noreply@blogger.com