Statistics can so easily be manipulated to give misleading impressions that a famous little book is titled How to Lie With Statistics.  The author wrote it in 1954.  My economics professor assigned it in 1971.  It’s still in print.

Again, it is possible to fail in many ways, while to succeed is possible only in one way.  – Aristotle.

This reader hails from down under.  Although it’s student letter day, I’m not certain that she is a student -- but I do think students will enjoy her question.

Question:

“In my experience, university-educated people believe that staying within the protocols of consent and good intentions absolves a person of moral responsibility for any suffering they might inflict in their personal lives.  ‘Who have you hurt without meaning to?’ is a hard question for anyone to answer honestly, but decadence makes it harder.”

Considering how many years ago the Puritan tribe died out, why do Liberals still take the trouble to bash them?  They do it because they are so much like them; they aspire to the same place in society.

“Decent” is one of those interesting words with multiple meanings.  It can mean “honest and moral,” it can mean “good, though not the best,” and it can mean “fitting to be shown or talked about in public.”

Decent folk find it uncomfortable to hear mention of unseemly things.  Their response to what is morally offensive is the same as their approach to bad manners:  The frozen smile that ignores it into oblivion.

In general, this response is a good thing.  It is one of a decent society’s ways of preserving purity and defending against indecency.

Picking up the thread from Saturday’s post and concluding the eight-part series