Saturday, April 24, 2004
It's the Poll Column
AOL had an interesting poll question today. But before I get to that I'd like to explain a couple of things.
First off, these polls are meaningless. They aren't scientific and are about as effective as American Idol voting in figuring out the truth of any matter. My favorite place to see these polls used these days is on news shows. FOX news and CNN will often unveil these questions on their website, ask people to vote and then the response will immediately become something that's reported. It actually somehow becomes "news". I've even seen them use it in questions aimed at particular guests: "43% of our viewers think you are crap... don't you think you need to start doing something different?"
Second, the polls on those shows are always written in such a way that the right side of a question is already determined. Like a magician and a good trick, there's no way you can screw it up. Just the other day I saw this question during the O'Reilly Factor:
The United States did the right thing in Iraq
A. Yes, of course we did. We're the United States and we have the power of the Almighty behind us, we always do the right thing.
B. No, but I'm unpatriotic and probably a spy for al-Qaida. Clicking on this will result in an investigation by officers from the Homeland Security Department.
It's such crap.
Finally, before I get to today's poll I need to share something with you about me. I was a history major in college. I know...shocking. I always loved history, even growing up. I can remember in grade school, when we talked about wars it was always black and white. We won the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, The Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II. Then came the confusing parts: Korea and Vietnam. Basically the way it was explained to me was that we tied. Yes, it sounds stupid, but we clearly didn't win either and it's not like we were conquered or anything so it made some sense. Later, as I got older I learned about the idea of war being a bit more complicated than winning and losing. In truth we didn't win either war and frankly no one ties in war. It's not a soccer match.
So, back to today's poll on AOL. It's about the war.
Are Terrorists winning the war on terror? (Once again I feel I should point out that the terrorists aren't fighting a war on terror, but that's not the point right now.)
A. Yes, recruiting fast
B. No, not possible (Which may speak to my point above, but I doubt it)
C. We are probably tied
D. I'm not sure
Thank god for D. Frankly if someone answers 'recruiting fast' we should probably ask to see their sources. As for B, 'not possible'? As in not physically possible for the terrorists to win? Aren't there enough expressions that became available after 9/11 that makes that statement absurd? Remember anything you did that was different than what you did before meant "the terrorists win". I almost switched to decaf after 9/11, but then someone reminded me that switching would mean the terrorists had won, I couldn't let that happen so I started getting double shots. That would show them.
And C. Ahhh C. Finally a return to the days of yore. A tie in a war. Not only that, but a tie in a war that only one side is fighting. How do we judge a tie? Is there an overall body count? Do we have to call in an independent arbiter? Do we go into overtime? If it is a tie, can we just walk away and call it good like we did in Vietnam and Korea?
In the end I'm not sure there are any good answers, but certainly people will be weighing in with their well educated responses that they got from their favorite cable news networks. Remember when television news used to fake the whole impartial thing and give both side of a story....boy that sucked. Now, all I have to do is turn to the one that tells much what I want to hear. It's so much better that way cause I'm always right and the people I hate are always wrong. Stupid wrong people.
For those interested, with 115,000 people answering, 'no, not possible' was tied with 37% of the vote with 'yes, recruiting fast'.
First off, these polls are meaningless. They aren't scientific and are about as effective as American Idol voting in figuring out the truth of any matter. My favorite place to see these polls used these days is on news shows. FOX news and CNN will often unveil these questions on their website, ask people to vote and then the response will immediately become something that's reported. It actually somehow becomes "news". I've even seen them use it in questions aimed at particular guests: "43% of our viewers think you are crap... don't you think you need to start doing something different?"
Second, the polls on those shows are always written in such a way that the right side of a question is already determined. Like a magician and a good trick, there's no way you can screw it up. Just the other day I saw this question during the O'Reilly Factor:
The United States did the right thing in Iraq
A. Yes, of course we did. We're the United States and we have the power of the Almighty behind us, we always do the right thing.
B. No, but I'm unpatriotic and probably a spy for al-Qaida. Clicking on this will result in an investigation by officers from the Homeland Security Department.
It's such crap.
Finally, before I get to today's poll I need to share something with you about me. I was a history major in college. I know...shocking. I always loved history, even growing up. I can remember in grade school, when we talked about wars it was always black and white. We won the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, The Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II. Then came the confusing parts: Korea and Vietnam. Basically the way it was explained to me was that we tied. Yes, it sounds stupid, but we clearly didn't win either and it's not like we were conquered or anything so it made some sense. Later, as I got older I learned about the idea of war being a bit more complicated than winning and losing. In truth we didn't win either war and frankly no one ties in war. It's not a soccer match.
So, back to today's poll on AOL. It's about the war.
Are Terrorists winning the war on terror? (Once again I feel I should point out that the terrorists aren't fighting a war on terror, but that's not the point right now.)
A. Yes, recruiting fast
B. No, not possible (Which may speak to my point above, but I doubt it)
C. We are probably tied
D. I'm not sure
Thank god for D. Frankly if someone answers 'recruiting fast' we should probably ask to see their sources. As for B, 'not possible'? As in not physically possible for the terrorists to win? Aren't there enough expressions that became available after 9/11 that makes that statement absurd? Remember anything you did that was different than what you did before meant "the terrorists win". I almost switched to decaf after 9/11, but then someone reminded me that switching would mean the terrorists had won, I couldn't let that happen so I started getting double shots. That would show them.
And C. Ahhh C. Finally a return to the days of yore. A tie in a war. Not only that, but a tie in a war that only one side is fighting. How do we judge a tie? Is there an overall body count? Do we have to call in an independent arbiter? Do we go into overtime? If it is a tie, can we just walk away and call it good like we did in Vietnam and Korea?
In the end I'm not sure there are any good answers, but certainly people will be weighing in with their well educated responses that they got from their favorite cable news networks. Remember when television news used to fake the whole impartial thing and give both side of a story....boy that sucked. Now, all I have to do is turn to the one that tells much what I want to hear. It's so much better that way cause I'm always right and the people I hate are always wrong. Stupid wrong people.
For those interested, with 115,000 people answering, 'no, not possible' was tied with 37% of the vote with 'yes, recruiting fast'.
