One of the most common misconceptions in society is the idea that POPULARITY is the same thing as TRUTHFULNESS. Opinion polls are often presented as if they mean something.
"President BlahBlah has a 92% approval rating."
What does that mean? He's a good president? No... it means 92% of people who were interviewed, approve of him. They could all be wrong. They could all be lying. The survey could have been "rigged" in some way to present a specifically desired outcome.
For example, only households who were displaying a "President BlahBlah" lawn sign may have been interviewed.
Or voter lists could have been used, and only voters who belong to President BlahBlah's party were contacted for the survey.
4 out of 5 dentists surveyed recommend Dentyne for their patients who chew gum.
What does this mean? That out of every dentist in the world, 80% recommend Dentyne? Or did someone pick five dentists to question, and four of them recommended Dentyne? If 80% of all dentists recommended something then it's probably a valid recommendation. However, 4 out of 5 dentists is too small a sample size to mean anything. The next 200 dentists might recommend Orbit or Trident. We really need more information than "4 out of 5 dentists surveyed" before we can accept that statement as meaningful.
Approxmately 80% of Americans are Christians.
Wow! 80%! That must mean they're right! Right?
Wait a second... 97% of Iraqis are Muslim! So they must be right.
Right? It's ALLAH not GOD.
Hmmm. Well. 2 billion Christians disagree with 1 billion Muslims, and they both disagree with 1 billion atheists and agnostics. Who all disagree with 900,000 Hindus who expect to be reincarnated.
When it comes to religion, opposing opinions can both be wrong. There are 22 major religions in the world (counting all branches of Christianity as ONE religion) and they all disagree with each other. Having 2 or more people from different religions each attempting to argue that THEIR deity is the "real one" is one of the most futile efforts you'll ever witness. Immovable objects meeting irresistible forces.
One out of three Americans believes antibiotics should be used to treat a cold or flu.
In this case, the minority (one out of three) is wrong. Yet, this wasn't an OPINION POLL. This was a scientific question which had a correct answer. One in three Americans answered incorrectly. Are we that stupid? Apparently so. A basic health question like this, shouldn't stump anyone.
Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections, not viral infections. 33% of us don't know this though.
Al Pacino speaks a great line to Jonathan Pryce in David Mamet's film Glengarry Glen Ross:
If everybody thinks something, bet the other way.
