Comments on: Tuesday Turnip

By: Aimee

Aimee — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 03:23:15 +0000

Did you know that 1 in every 4 statistics are made up on the spot.

By: Omega

Omega — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:44:01 +0000

Wow, Michelle, I sort of feel sorry for you. THis is classice “they’re taking over” racism, in fact I’m fascinated by how much attention that one “statistic” has received.
Elizabeth, you point out a really interesting and socially-meaningful phenomenon called the “one-drop rule.” “One drop” of “non-white blood” and you’re not “white.” sorry for excessive quotes. It really makes you think about racial identity; does it only have meaning if it is recognized and reaffirmed by others? Does it matter if your kids don’t consider themselves Hispanic (perhaps just “American”) if everyone else does?
Also, no one has said anything about the sex-ed quote. The mere packaging of these two pieces of information together is misleading and biased (the increase in sex-ed and the increase in std’s). This is a classic case of an erroneous correlation, for example: “when people drink more soda, they are more likely to get polio.” People are more likely to drink soda in the summer and thats also when polio spreads the easiest, there’s obviously no relation between the two. In this example the mistake is obvious, but perhaps it is less obvious to a religious abstinence-only fanatic groping for facts that in reality don’t support their arguement.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:07:31 +0000

Thank you, GTT! :o)

By: GTT

GTT — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:57:52 +0000

These statistics are not based on an average of weight or blood sugar. They take “healthy” levels and compare to that. I dont know the actual numbers but if, for example, a healthy blood sugar level is 100 then 1 in 4 people have over that healthy number (the same goes for weight). The average of all Americans does not matter.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:32:28 +0000

“1 in every 4 Americans will be Hispanic in 2050″ … To Elizabeth and Jud: the Census predicts this because of the large increase of Hispanic immigrants (legal and illegal). It will continue to grow until the border is locked down and non-Hispanics stop having abortions. America’s population will grow so much that eventually 1 in every 4 will be Hispanic.

By: tpal

tpal — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:39:00 +0000

I wonder what the odds are of being a heartburn suffering Hispanic American with an STD, a tattoo and high blood sugar who has appeared on television and likes to shop infomercials?

By: Witty Nickname

Witty Nickname — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:26:03 +0000

“1 in every 4 Americans has a higher than normal blood sugar level.”

Wouldn’t it stand to reason that one in two Americans has higher than normal blood sugar?

And then the others have lower than normal? I guess if you averaged it out far enough only a couple people would have “normal” blood sugar.

Makes me wonder how the MAJORITY of Americans are overweight. Shouldn’t we move that average?

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:32:02 +0000

â€œThe Census Bureau predicts that 1 in every 4 Americans will be Hispanic by 2050â€³

my question is how do you count this. My husband is hispanic, I am anglo. That would make my children 1/2 hispanic. If they married non-hispanics their children would be 1/4 hispanic.

Trully it gets ridiculus. When it comes to the census my children are hispanic. Which is not a true label for the variety that his their heritage. It is more along the line of american mutts.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:15:24 +0000

Statistics like ’1 in 4 are higher than normal’ are so silly. Of course the top 25% are higher than the average (50%). That’s statistics!

By: Jud

Jud — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:04:49 +0000

“The Census Bureau predicts that 1 in every 4 Americans will be Hispanic by 2050″

I can’t wait till I turn Hispanic… too bad I have to wait until 2050.