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Originally Posted by onetime2
Facts do not speak for themselves. Facts require context.
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The context is necessary to understand what the fact means.
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Do you usually rely on the person quoting a statistic to provide that context? When Bush says, "My oppenent voted to raise taxes ten million times," or Kerry says, "Bush underfunded education by 20 trillion dollars," do you expect an aside from them explaining the origin of those "statistics"? Maybe an omnibus explaining the full implications of every factor related to the situation in question?
I regard pretty much
any statistic I hear or read with a healthy skepticism. If I care enough about it I research and provide my own context. If not I forget about it.
Questioning the validity of the information provided is a good thing. Accusing someone of intellectual laziness when you've made no effort to provide any of the many contributing numbers you say would serve to make this a worthwhile discussion is hypocritical at best.