Causality - does it need to be promoted more?

[downfader]

Watching a heated "conversation" evolve on one of the newspaper websites the other day a thought struck me. Neither party was privvy to the facts about what they were arguing about, both sides therefore descented into bitter rant about "CYCLISTS DO THIS!!" and "DRIVERS DO THAT!!"

Others had tried to intevene with a few facts and stats, but the problem seems clear: the authorities and the media need to work together more and reveal a few more facts about what has actually happened and why.

Do think along with me? That the great unknowing is leading to presumption, fear and daft anger? After all, if we don't know how something happened - how the hell are we going to prevent it?

 

[Fab Foodie]

We kill what we fear and we fear what we don't understand ....

The problem is that facts have an inconvenient way of getting in the way of peoples prejudices.
It happens here, in the media, Government and every day conversation.
Problem is two-fold, data gathering takes time and communicating and secondly is very open to misinterpretation and spin. Few of us are statisticians end even less have any concept about scientific method in order to provide valuable statistics. He who shouts loudest (or has the backing of the Daily Wail) wins the day. It's much easier to inspire fear into people than confidence.

However, having said that there are some blinders that we can't get the merist hint of evidence understood, for example the number of KSI's attribiuted to RLJ'ing or pavement cycling vs the number of KSI due to cars, be it cyclists, pedestrians or drivers. The car-owning public do not want to be shown their fallibility...
The media don't like these inconvenient truths because it kills sensationalism and that sells air-time. The Government don't like them either because the motorist fills the coffers. So we get idiot attempts to change the laws and punishment for pavement cyclists rather than improve road safety due to poor driving.

Cycling is one small corner of the world, there are many other groups which suffer the same types of issues.

 

[Fab Foodie]

On the subject of causality ....

I'm constantly told I'm a misery at home. Why? Because I grumble and moan about stuff, like when I come home and every light is left on in the house and they're all sitting watching the TV, that you can't move in the shower for 9 bottles, that we can never finish one packet/bottle/jar of anything before opening a new one, because somebody keeps taking the f'in Sudocreme from the bathroom and never puts it back, that I buy socks for sport and the Mrs and kids wear them all so I never have any to wear .... I could go on, but I be accused of grumpiness. Living in our house is like groundhog day. Maybe there's a cause to my general grumpiness? Maybe if I could have the socks I bought of the Sudocreme was in it's proper place I might not be such an peanut. There maybe cause to my moaning rather than any natural disposition to misery. I always wake-up happy.

Cause and effect.

 

[downfader]

If only we had some kind of public body, in charge, who understand these things and could tell the British public: "here are the facts!"



To me it seems that, now I've reflected on it, that the Government could have stepped in a long time ago and dealt with a lot of the anger and frustration coming our way because of this. As you say, Foodie, its as if they don't want to break the back of the "cash-cow" (other's decription of motorists, not mine).

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

Nah, it's been on long enough already; nigh on 30 years is more than long enough for any TV show.

... Oh, causality! No, that requires an understanding of basic logic, and to most of the populace that runs no further than: "X implies Y; Y; therefore X".

 

[downfader]

Nah, it's been on long enough already; nigh on 30 years is more than long enough for any TV show.

... Oh, causality! No, that requires an understanding of basic logic, and to most of the populace that runs no further than: "X implies Y; Y; therefore X".

Rah!