The 50-50 Lie

Every day...all day, we are told that "this race is 50-50", or "we are a 50-50 nation". Is that really true?
Can you think of anything that you are truly "50-50" about? If your boss asked if you wanted a raise, would you think.."Gee, I'm not sure..50% of me wants a raise, but the other 50% isn't so sure it's a good idea"??
Or are you 50-50 about abortion, or school prayer, or guns or any other "big issue"?

The Wisconsin paper that "begged" for pro-Bush letters pointed out to my just how desperate our media IS to present everything in a 50-50 light. If it's 50-50, people do not feel the need to change their opinions, or to even think through complex ideas. If you knew that you were on the 10% end of a 90-10 issue, you might start to think that maybe YOU were not fully informed, or maybe you might even need to adjust your thinking....BUT..if you are 50-50, then all's right with the world, and you can just go on thinking nonsense, because you are not outnumbered in your thinking.

C-Span buys into it too, with their "balanced" phone calls. On even the most outrageous of ideas, they can leave 100 "anti" calls in queue, in order to take that one lonely call waiting with the "pro" opinion.. Does that really mean that the public is 50-50?? Of course not.. It only shows that no televised/written/or heard venue is willing to peek behind the curtain and see what is really there.

I would actually prefer to KNOW that 90% of the people who are interested enough to dial that number, are against "X" or "Y".

Media is doing us the hugest of disservices by continually presenting the 50-50 nonsense. It makes the casual viewer/reader/listener think that "what they do will not really matter", because their view is right there in line with at least half of the public, and whoever gets elected is Okee-dokee, because half is good enough..

What it really does, is to create a false acceptance of the totally unacceptable. They take a simplistic and false approach to public opinion. I think that some of them are just too afraid to report the truth, and this middle of the road approach is safer, but it's not. Half of a half-lie is still a lie..

Polls may look convincing yet be completely worthless:

- Public opinion is subjective and can change rapidly.
- Consequently, polls sometimes produce conflicting or meaningless results, even when they are carefully written and presented by professional interviewers to scientifically chosen samples.
- Pollsters can also set up surveys that deliberately shade the truth.


Here’s the link for more on this:

http://www.sfasu.edu/polisci/Abel/PollEvaluation.html

The Pubs are desperate and will reach for straws as they cling to the Shrub hoping to avoid a loss of face if the evil one goes down in November.

The Psyops once worked to get themselves into power and positions of authority only to discover the Good Truth of the Law firm Murphy & Murphy will haunt their behinds as they go over the top. The Pubs have reached their crescendo and soon it will be SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.

I think a lot of journalists or reporters are so concerned with giving equal time to both sides that they don't give the evidence a fair shake. There are probably some issues where both sides could bring equal evidence to the table. But in others, like the environment, the evidence clearly stacks up in support of those who say that global warming is a human-created phenomenon, that we need environmental regulation, etc. The media is just too afraid to go out and tell the truth, lest they not be politically correct.

and it ends up minimizing the important things and maximizing the nonsensical.

Your example of the environment is a perfect illustration.. Who really cares if the nation is 50-50, if the FACTS indicate that we are destroying our planet??

The end result is that 100% of us end up suffering...not just the "50%" who believe in nonsense science.. That's the 50% who call REAL science, junk science....

Some things are not really negotiable.. things like clean air, clean water, safe food.... 50-50 is meaningless..

...you are right. :)

You need to get this out as a ltte, or something.

"What it really does, is to create a false acceptance of the totally unacceptable."

Of course, the other part is that just BECAUSE any percentage of our great populace says something is okay does not make it so.

And in this case of torture in our overseas prisons, just because you say you are following the Geneva convention doesn't mean that you are. The facts are the facts. The media wants everything to be interpretation. It's not.

Not only does one feel there is no need to change one's opinion, they really see no need to become involved at all. Hell, why even bother to vote if it's always just going to be the same old 50/50?

all the news media began presenting the 'other side.' I was in Tulsa one summer and it was so obvious - proERA woman who had clearly been working and speaking for some years on the topic vs antiERA woman who was obviously sincerely anti but had never researched or spoken publicly about it.

Over time, US public opinion change from proERA to 50-50. Same thing happened on abortion issue.

If 98 scientists say that global warming is a real danger, they will trot out 2 scientists who don't agree and say, "see, the jury is still out on this issue so let's not do anything yet."

and they'll say they're doing it in the interest of "balance."

I thought it was widely accepted that Republicans benefit greatly from the electoral college system. They don't get as many votes as liberals, but they get more of the *weighty* votes.

If that's true, how can there ever be a 50/50 split in a poll? I would expect to see something like "it's tied 70 to 30" or something like that.

never more then 29% hard core nuts. NEVER.
I had a friend who told me in 2000 she wasn't bothered by the theft "because it was so close" There's your reason.

Nip a few votes her..a few there..and whaddayahknow?? well...we told you it was close..

That's why I do not but the Bush-Kerry numbers.. They are only polling the same 30% on each side..over and over.. Of course those numbers will be 50-50..

Is any kerry supporter going to suddenly think that Bush is a great guy??

It's just a neatly wrapped package...with nothing in the box

so that when diebold gives the election to * it might look legit.

I just don't believe for one minute that chimpy will get all the votes he did last time plus enough to actually win. He maxed out in '00. Those other than core rwing repugs know that they were taken last time. The Rockefellar and Goldwater repugs won't be as easily lead this time around.


Welcome to DU LetThemEatWar!

.. some newspaper in Wisconsin is openly soliciting pro-Bush letters to the Editor because they're not getting any. All they're getting is letters bashing our little emperor.

And look at their reaction - they're going to try and generate some phony "balance" by giving his supporters equal time. Supports your thesis.

http://nytimes.com/2004/05/12/opinion/12KOHU.html

<snip>
Last week's Gallup, Fox News and NBC/Wall Street Journal surveys — all taken well after the revelations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib — continued to show registered voters split about evenly between the president and the senator. New surveys by CNN/USA Today/Gallup and by my colleagues at the Pew Center did show the senator gaining a small lead, but that edge disappeared in the Gallup poll when the sampling was narrowed from registered voters to "likely" voters, and in the Pew poll when respondents were asked to also consider the candidacy of Ralph Nader.

<snip>
The real reason that Mr. Kerry is making so little progress is that voters are now focused almost exclusively on the president. This is typical: as an election approaches, voters first decide whether the incumbent deserves re-election; only later do they think about whether it is worth taking a chance on the challenger. There is no reason to expect a one-to-one relationship between public disaffection with the incumbent and an immediate surge in public support for his challenger.



I agree that the polls don't add up, but I think they accurately reflect public opinion. The press, however, does play a role in influecing public opinion.