Lloyd rants: It's not an 'ism', it's just a correlation!

Time and time again I hear some daft person engage their outrage chip, insisting that some statistic shows that the world is outrageously unfair, and that we should all admire him for being outraged, when it is clear that the twonk hasn't given a moment's though to what the statistics actually reflect.

www.LloydianAspects.co.uk

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ism
• prejudice
• bigotry
• stupid
• beautiful
• tall
• short
• pay
• wage
• salary
• heightism
• correlation
• statistics
• unfair
• population
• height
• stature

[vanRijn64]

Comments now require approval? I have only just noticed this or is it a new thing? (Not that I am critical of it if applied correctly).

[lindybeige]

@vanRijn64 All channels have the option to set comments as requiring approval or not. I set mine to requiring approval, mainly because it means that they are drawn to my attention, and I can reply to them. I approve 99% of them.

[vanRijn64]

@lindybeige Although (unless I imagined it of course), you could probably 'find' this correlation if you compared enough names assuming a relatively small sample size. I think the sample size mentioned was reasonable, at least at the time I thought it was fair. Obviously it would not be surprising to find differences in the average height (weight, income, etc etc) of people with different cultural names. The average Schmidt is almost certainly taller than the average MacGowan. What's in a name?

[lindybeige]

@vanRijn64 Well, yes, some I would expect, such as the average Bjørnsen's being taller than the average Wu. Recent studies into men in Britain have found VERY percentages of men with the same surname sharing the same Y chromosome, suggesting that men are descended from very few male ancestors, so if, say a Mr Sykes were very tall...

[Andernerd]

@spawngts Pardon me for being skeptical, but you wouldn't happen to be short, would you?

[lindybeige]

@Andernerd No, I am not short.

[ASaxonAtHeart]

Why is it that whenever I watch one of your videos I find myself believing something that I could never have considered myself believing before?

Damn you!

[vanRijn64]

@lindybeige A good use of the feature, it seems to work! By the way, have you ever heard of a correlation between height and surname? For the life of me I cannot find a reference but I remember reading it in a book some years ago (Probably a book by Karl Kruszelnicki) which suggested that a study had found that 'Smith's were, on average, taller than 'Taylor's (in the UK) and that this might be due to the occupational description and the type of person typical of that occupation at the time.

[vanRijn64]

I agree with this video, at least the explanation that correlation does not imply causation.

[Maehedrose]

I think it safe to suggest that anyone who doesn't favor a meritocracy should immediately be pulled from the consideration for being anything important whatsoever. I mean, that doesn't say much about their own estimation of their merit then, does it?

[Maehedrose]

I thought it vaguely worth pointing out that young babies will respond to the picture of a face - such as the classic "smiley face" - more than they'll respond to human faces as well. Babies are predisposed to respond to faces and are only responding to the symmetry of the "prettier face" rather than anything else which might be considered "beautiful".

[otnomnoraa]

@Okaruwazashi It also has to do with the fact that shortness correlates with lower socioeconomic factors, like being a recent immigrant, or being born with FAS. Remember, it's just a correlation.