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Friday, March 14, 2008

So you think you can trust polls?

This is rather funny. Mel Gibson's accent in Braveheart was voted second worst in cinema history, according to polls. What's funny is what is also revealed in the polls: several respondents nominated Sean Connery's accent as James Bond -- and their votes were disqualified since Sean is indeed a Scot. So why should we trust the results of the polls at all?

What isn't funny, however, is how people actually do put a lot of stock on polls. The problem, of course, is that some things are based on objective facts, not opinion. Yet many serious matters of law, right and wrong, life and death, are affected by polls, despite the fact that it is always possible to manipulate polls.

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