Liars, Damn Liars and Statistics

For many years Lubbock has gotten a bad rap in the media for “leading” the nation or state in so many different areas–from crime to drunkenness to teen pregnancies to STDs to younameit.

It seems that in today’s world folks pushing an agenda can come up with numbers to support their particular position. It’s been no secret that for decades the FBI Crime Statistics have been used by local governments to help push their agendas.

For example, city officials who want to get more federal aid or tax dollars might report every little incident that it can to the FBI for its annual report. On the other hand, cities that want to present a “clean” image will underreport in order to attract economic development.

Don’t believe me? How else can you explain that El Paso, within view of Juarez, where hundreds of people are killed every year, is considered one of the safest cities in the nation, but Phoenix, in the eye of the immigration storm and a couple of hundred miles from Mexico, is one of the “kidnap capitals” of the world.

I am a conservative and a Fox News viewer, but I’m also sort of interested in the facts being reported as honestly as possible. Here’s a link to a well-known liberal website that presents a different view of what’s happening in Phoenix from what you’ll see on Fox: http://mediamatters.org/research/201007020014