Don't confuse me with the facts. And certainly statistics lie and liars use statistics. The use of facts and statistics are always subjective. There is no "true" fact and statistic. These two things are merely snapshots of a thing from a different perspective at a different time by different people.
Two people, three people, or more, might all be able to come up with facts and statistics about a thing. And all will be valid. Because the facts and statistics are not something floating around in the air. They are mere complilations of what a person things he needs to know to make a decision.
The further back in history one goes the murkier the facts get. The further back in history the less statistics there are. No one bothered to count things like the way we do today. They couldn't keep track of it if they did because they didn't have the computer data bases we have today.
No matter which fact you come up with there is always someoen with a different, often contradictory fact.
No matter which statistic you use there is always another set of data, counted slightly differently, that results in a different set of facts.
The clearest example of this is the argument over which is the tallest building in the world? First, that depends on your definition of "building." Is a television tower a buidling? Or merely a structure? Is the television tower on top of a buiding part of the building or something else? Do you count to the roof line? And what is the roof line? On a flat topped building it is easy to tell, but when you consider the Chrysler Building in New York, it is murkier.
I have seen people come almost to blows about some facts and statistics that use the same words and only when the things are defined do they find out that they are talking about two wholly different things. The largest company? By what measure? Income? Revenue? Sales? Profits? Employees? Square footage? There are too many ways to count the "largest" to come to one conclusion. The fact is therefore ephemeral and not real.
Facts are not real, they are constructs of the definition on uses. |
