David Brothers over at 4thletter! is without a doubt one of my favourite comic bloggers. The guy is undeniably smart and knows how to put together a good argument.
Well, last week he wrote a post in response to something I had said to him, and having only just realised this fact today (clearly I chose the wrong week to bury myself in my work), I thought I'd flag it up. David's initial post is here, and his response to my question (which includes my own comment) is here.
I've emailed my response to David directly, so I won't repeat it in full here. The short version, however, is that I feel we may have been talking at cross purposes. David may be using "statistics" to refer to specific numerical soundbites rather than the discipline, which was the sense in which I was applying the term.
I also think we need to consider that whilst David's experience and knowledge regarding race in America means he could get further talking about the subject without statistics than I ever could with them, that reflects poorly on my knowledge of the subject, not on the use of statistics themselves. In other words, Squid + Statistics < David < David + Statistics.
Anyway, it's a great article, and I'm delighted I helped create it in some small way.
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