“Lies, damn lies and statistics” is an often-used phrase attributed to the 18th Century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. He acknowledged the persuasive power of numbers to bolster weak arguments.
In a statistical moment his contemporary, Abraham Lincoln, said; “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time“. Politics, persuasion and manipulation (deception) have gone hand in hand for centuries.
Continue reading
