Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Tom Dauwwg

Denny Carter @dennycarter.bsky.social · 57m

You don’t fight a fire with a prayer. You fight it with a back burn. Sometimes it’s the only option.

badfaithtimes.com/a-fire-to-st...

A Fire To Stop The Fire

There are ways to preserve American democracy. None of them are ideal.

badfaithtimes.com

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 56m

Yes, now I’m hearing that YouGov did/doesn’t design surveys well and that asking questions in this way leads to garbage results. Based on that and other things, the best possible takeaway from the data is that it may not be possible to fully understand what people know about the world around them. 🤷‍♂️

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Reposted by Tom Dauwwg

mady castigan✨ 🏳️‍⚧️ @madycast.com · 12h

we live in a society where we pay police $200k a year to violently assault poor people who aren't able to afford food, and also defunding the police is supposedly the extreme position?

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 15h

California police boost patrols at grocery stores as millions set to lose SNAP benefits

www.foxla.com

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 1h

That one jumped out at me too, I don’t believe it either! Someone downthread says the design of this survey was flawed & that YouGov produces junk surveys anyway. Maybe figuring out what Americans (or any nationality for that matter) know about the world around them is unknowable!

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 2h

I also see downthread that YouGov doesn’t conduct the best surveys and that people are just really bad at taking surveys like this? Looking at it that way it is kind of depressing so I gravitate towards the humor in the data: where are all my Hispanic, HS dropout, trans, millionaires from Texas at?

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 2h

Ha! I was going to use this Rumsfeld quote in a response to someone else on this thread! Guy wasn’t my cup of tea but he had a couple of interesting insights like the “known unknowns”. What a time the aughts were

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 2h

Oh! Well I got the answer from YouGov, who conducted the survey, so I guess they are wrong too. Thanks!

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 2h

🤣

much ado about muffin @muffindoin.bsky.social · 2h

the average American is a millionaire left-handed Hispanic trans lesbian Jewish Catholic veteran with homes in NYC and Texas

Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 20h

Forget about politics & policy, Americans have lots of trouble understanding basic demographic information about their own country. YouGov did a survey in 2022 asking Americans basic demographic questions like what % of the country is white, Hispanic, are transgender, etc. and the results are WILD.

Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 2h

Interesting, but one thing I don’t understand (among many) is the 41% Black thing. 12% just doesn’t seem extreme, & we know that white USians generally don’t have close relationships with very many Black people, plus the Black population of 🇺🇸 has always been between 10%-14% Sports on TV, I guess?

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 2h

The status threat for “Real (read: White Southern or Midwestern) Americans”, combined with rank innumeracy & an ungodly amount of ignorance/stupidity combines into a powerful force tearing America apart, & the overlords of our screens are happy to take advantage & make lots of money along the way

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 2h

This is a fair point! Unfortunately, today’s diverse American society is weaponized when filtered through the Murdoch/Zuck/Musk (and soon Ellison) lenses.

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 2h

I think so? I described YouGov’s analysis of the survey in the alt text of the photos.

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 2h

And they think only 65% of Americans have a HS diploma, so either a bunch of millionaires got there via inheritance or the lottery or we have a bunch of stupid millionaires. Definitely insane

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 3h

Thank You!

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 3h

And yet…in a survey THE SAME YEAR (2022) 67% of whites reported having ZERO Black friends in their friend networks, this would be much harder to maintain if Blacks were really 41% of the population. This country contains multitudes…of innumeracy. Link to the friend study: prri.org/press-releas...

PRRI Survey: Friendship Networks of White Americans Continue to Be 90% White

PRRI Survey: Friendship Networks of White Americans Continue to Be 90% White More Diverse Friendship Networks Linked to Higher Support for Religious Pluralism Among Americans Washington, DC (May 24…

prri.org

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 3h

And 30% live in New York City! And 32% live in California! (The other 8% must live in Chicago) Can you imagine what this country would be like if 92% of the population lived in either California, Texas, or NYC?

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 19h

Movies/social media/TV convinced the average American that the Black population is 333% bigger, the Jewish population is 1,500% bigger, the Muslim population is 2,700% bigger, & the trans population is 2,100% bigger than they really are & that’s the whole ballgame. Disinformation networks love that.

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 19h

Basic pattern in the data is that Americans overestimate minority groups and underestimate majority groups. The two demographic groups the respondents got right? Americans with at least one child (57%, real % was 58) and Americans who voted in the 2020 election (62%, real % was 61).

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 19h

Examples: Respondents said 41% of Americans were Black (real % is 12), 27% of Americans were Native American or Muslim (the real % for both groups is 1), 20% Jewish (real % is 2), 21% (!!!) are transgender (real % is 1), 20% have a household income > $1 million (real number is < 1%). Bonkers.

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 20h

Forget about politics & policy, Americans have lots of trouble understanding basic demographic information about their own country. YouGov did a survey in 2022 asking Americans basic demographic questions like what % of the country is white, Hispanic, are transgender, etc. and the results are WILD.

2022 YouGov survey asking Americans about basic USA demographic information (what percentage of Americans are white, have a household income over $1 million, etc.). The basic pattern in the data is that Americans OVER estimate minority groups (they think Blacks make up 41% of the population, the real number is 12%), and UNDER estimate majority groups (they think that 59% of Americans have flown in a plane, the real number is 88%).

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 3d

Also, very Gazoo-like, is it not?

Picture of the “Great Gazoo” a green alien from Flintstones cartoon

Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 5d

Pretty good, we’ve got some even crazier ones on this side of the pond. Take a look at this gem from 2009 or 2010:

youtu.be/q-RLqLx1iYI?...

Epic and Honest Mobile Home Commercial

YouTube video by Rhett & Link’s Wonderhole

youtu.be

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Reposted by Tom Dauwwg

Ingrid Burrington @lifewinning.com · 10d

the Muppets have been real quiet since the Louvre heist

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Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 14d

We went from predicting we’d have flying cars and pills that instantly turned into gourmet meals by now to a current reality of four years of dumb Nixon, a four year break, possibly followed by four years of stupid Hitler. Not great

Tom Dauwwg @tomdauwwg.bsky.social · 14d

Exactly. Or, put simply, in the United States, **race IS class**, very, very hard to disentangle the two.

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