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CDC data are disappearing

(www.theatlantic.com)
749 points doener | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.424s | source
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breadwinner ◴[] No.42902252[source]
Data is the ultimate Fact Check. This is a President that's adamantly opposed to fact checking [1] and has even coerced Facebook to drop fact checking. Of course they don't want data on government sites that disprove their "alternate facts".

[1] https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4920827-60-minutes-tru...

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djfobbz ◴[] No.42903684[source]
Data isn't the ultimate fact check - it's just numbers waiting to be twisted. Bias, bad sources, and cherry-picking turn 'facts' into fiction. Real fact-checking needs brains, not just bar graphs.
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arunabha ◴[] No.42903760[source]
But surely, the answer to 'data can be twisted' is not to remove the data? We have enough of a problem already with wilful misinformation.

Having the data is the first step towards a reasonable discussion. Otherwise, you have to resort to 'I feel ....' vs 'Based on this interpretation....'

I agree that the first kind of debate is already the dominant form today, however I think we can all agree that it's not been good for society overall.

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_heimdall ◴[] No.42905110[source]
This isn't a new problem unfortunately. Data and research during the pandemic response was being horribly mishandled, largely by the Democrats at the time.

This isn't a one party or one person problem. It sure seems like a problem more correlated with our government structure and/or climate, or authority structures themselves.

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1. marxisttemp ◴[] No.42905889[source]
I’m sorry, I’m no fan of the dems but if you think Trump isn’t above and beyond when it comes to lying and twisting truth you’re either a shill or just ignorant
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2. _heimdall ◴[] No.42913236[source]
Oh he is bad about it, don't get me wrong. That doesn't excuse other politicians though, and attempting to weigh and compare the relative lying and truth twisting seems like an extremely difficult thing to do.

Bush Jr blatantly lied to the country and rallied us around a war that killed hundreds of thousands of people minimum. How do we weigh that with Trumps ridiculous lies?