Certainly does not appear to be professionally.
Like I told the guy who told me I could never have been in the military...
Reality trumps your perception.
I certainly have not shown disdain.
Well, getting back to appearances, that's the way it appeared to me. Thank you for clarifying your position.
I certainly have illustrated that you only get out of statistical study what you put in to statistical study.
This is true. However, there's a point where whatever one is doing with the data ceases being statistics and devolves into ignorantly playing around with the data. At that point, it's no longer statistics, hence my position, "statistics doesn't lie." I find this to be common among newscasters who took a college course in statistics or who fail to present a bona fide report from an objective perspective. People misusing, or rather, not using statistics can tell any story they wish. Just don't call it statistics.
You have stated that you are well aware of how statistics can be misused...such as the CDC study.
Takes me back to the old axiom about telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
1. Telling the truth: Obviously, if you tell something other than the truth, it's a lie. If you omit part of the truth, it's deception i.e. a lie. If a car is red and you say it's blue, well, that's not telling the truth. It's a lie. If a car is two-toned and you know it, but only mention one color, intending to mislead someone, say, investigators, then you're begin deceptive i.e. lying while trying to get away with it.
a. The whole truth: This is the most common form of deception used in the media. They only tell part of the truth. The
Gun Violence Archive, quoted in
a recent Market Watch article, is a prime example. Both mention some of the atrocities attributable to firearms, but both fail to tell the whole story. They refuse to break out which of those were lawful defenses of life, limb, and property against violent attack. They completely fail to put things in their proper perspective by noting several hundreds of thousands of times firearms have been used to prevent crime altogether.
b. And nothing but the truth: This is when people outright tell a falsehood. The media rarely does this as they'd get their butts handed to them.
As for the CDC study, well, see the links above. If they're only reporting some statistics while failing to disclose others which don't match their narrative, then yes, they're guilty of deception i.e. lying.