Polls are for Propagandists and their Useful Idiots

This won't be a long rant.

If you don't know that all polls are instruments of propaganda, you're an idiot. There's no more accurate way to say it. If you do know this, and continue to spew poll data all day anyway, you are a propagandist and shouldn't be taken seriously in any capacity.

I'm not singling anyone out, lest I be accused of a decorum violation.

But seriously. Just stop with the stupid polls. If you've been on this planet for, I dunno, at least eight years or so (yes, even children should know this by that age), you must have realized that they aren't scientific at all (although they try to make them sound that way through terms like "sampling methodology" and the like, as well as appeal to authority fallacies), and are therefore not reliable for any meaningful electoral prediction.

If you've witnessed more than one election cycle and haven't figured this out, you're an idiot.

If you know this and spread it anyway, you're a scumbag.

Let me reiterate--I'm not singling anyone out.

But you know who you are.

And please. People who are aware of all this...

...stop feeding the trolls. If you simply ignore poll threads, people will stop making them.

That is all. If I've offended, so be it.

a reply to: NthOther

Reaally? I thought they were for comedy relief. Every poll I see makes me LMFAO!

Remember when almost every poll from major media outlets showed overwhelming support for the Remain camp before Brexit?

Yup.

originally posted by: searcherfortruth

I thought they were for comedy relief.

Their only redeeming value



Although they usually aren't very funny.

seems like you are singling out someone just not naming them....i guess

"they know who they are"

originally posted by: CaDreamer

seems like you are singling out someone just not naming them....i guess

It's actually hard to single people out because so many do it.



Take a look at the new poll threads created in the last few days. It isn't any one person or even small groups. At least, not in the rare instances that I've clicked on the thread in the first place. All kinds of people are being sucked into this nonsense.

Or are deliberately pushing it.

Couple of real wrenches that will likely manifest. She also has practically quit campaigning compared to her opponent.
Likely trying to prepare for the debates but that is not a good strategy. Stump speeches don't work on him.

a reply to: NthOther

If Trump were winning in the polls we all know threads like this wouldn't exist.

Accept the fact he may be as popular as you think he is.

a reply to: Swills

I'm voting for Hillary.

Nice try, though.



You're a smart guy/gal. You should know from my posting history by now that I'm simply an anarchist amused by watching this bulls# system burn to the ground. Not everyone fits into the cages you'd like to keep them in.

Maybe I'm wrong about you though.



Does this sound like a Trump supporter to you?

originally posted by: NthOther

originally posted by: enlightenedservant

I'm in a thread where some posters are agreeing with sending US citizens to Gitmo. Of course I'm a bit on edge, especially since some people that I thought would be pro-constitutional rights seem to be arguing the opposite. It makes it hard to know who's who on this issue.

Yeah, it's disgusting. I may believe that Trump will win in a landslide, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it. The temperament of our country right now is beginning to approach desperation, and nothing will good will come from that. Hillary is lying and cheating as she always does, but Trump is the one tapping into that sense of desperation.

Desperate people do desperate, stupid things. They are more easily manipulated than the simply ignorant, and more fanatical in their beliefs. I feel that we may lose many otherwise rational constitutionalists to this charlatan. He's like a sleazy evangelist using politics instead of religion to sucker people in.

Ok, ok. Maybe I've softened my "watch it burn" anarchism in my old age.

a reply to: NthOther

It would depend on the number of people in the poll, the demographic variety of people in the poll, they way questions are phrased.

It is ridiculous to say all polls are propaganda. People are taught in universities on how to take unbiased polls. It is a common assignment. They won't be perfect, but saying all are propaganda flies in the face of academia.

Did you really just say all polls are propaganda?

Here is another snippet from the epic "Yes, Minister"/"Yes, Prime Minister" that has turned out prophetic.

Cynical Polls:

originally posted by: reldra

People are taught in universities on how to take unbiased polls. It is a common assignment. They won't be perfect, but saying all are propaganda flies in the face of academia.

Did I not just say people will use appeal-to-authority fallacies to justify their data?

There you have it folks, as if on cue.

There is no such thing as an "unbiased" poll, just as there is no such thing as "unbiased journalism". If your educators are telling you otherwise, you're wasting your money (or, most likely our money).

Did you really just say all polls are propaganda?

Yes. Do you know what propaganda is?

It takes many forms. This is a very common one.

a reply to: NthOther

Voting Clinton? For some reason I associate you with the Trumo crowd. Color me surprised.

a reply to: NthOther

You clearly know nothing about polling if you think they aren't scientific. I won't be stopping with the polls because polls are scientifically proven to get MORE accurate the closer we get to the election. So deal with it.

a reply to: Swills

That's because you see people as political products to be categorized, indexed and manipulated, instead of as individual human beings.

When someone comes along you can't throw in one of your boxes and label, it short circuits your brain.

I was most definitely wrong about you.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

And you clearly know nothing about neither politics nor mass media and the relationship between them.

I would say you're just naive, but I know better.

a reply to: NthOther

I agree with you.

I've often stated that the only polls worth watching have sweaty girls dancing around them.

a reply to: DBCowboy

Especially Polish ones.

originally posted by: NthOther
a reply to: Krazysh0t

And you clearly know nothing about neither politics nor mass media and the relationship between them.

I would say you're just naive, but I know better.

*Eyeroll* Go study statistics then come back to me.

Man, some people are so duped by weird conspiracy theories that they actually think that all polling procedures can be 100% controlled and manipulated... No # polls are inaccurate, but that doesn't mean they are displaying 100% random results or biased results. You can't refute the fact that polls get more accurate the closer we get to elections so you just blanket say I don't know how politics works. Bull#, you know damn well I know how politics works. It's not like you don't know who I am on ATS or anything.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Yes, I'm familiar with your posts and your positions.

That's precisely why I said what I said.