Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics

Another post about the conditioning through propaganda by the mainstream media, and how statistics are being misinterpreted to incite more fear for immigrants... It's not a favorite subject of mine, far from it, but I'm sick and tired of the fake outrage on both sides of our one-dimensional political spectrum...

_{Image by Fibonacci Blue - source:}

This time I'll give Trump a rest; just keep in mind that this is how it works every time and everywhere. We'll go to Sweden this time; remember the awareness-campaign back in the summer of 2016 where Swedish police started handing out those "don't touch me" bracelets? The reason for this was clear: to "draw attention to the issue of sexual assault and urge those affected to report". It says so in an article, for example, of the British newspaper Daily Sunday Express. Nothing wrong with that. It gets troublesome when you realize that the Headline for the article was: Swedish police respond to soaring numbers of migrant sex attacks with... bracelets. You can follow the link to read a typical example of what I call "outrage journalism," but here's the first two paragraphs in full:

Festival-goers have been ordered to wear the accessories because officers believe it will "draw attention to the issue of sexual assault and urge those affected to report".
However it remains to be seen how effective these wristbands are really going to be as the majority of perpetrators are said to be recent migrants who have landed in Sweden that can’t read them.
_{source: Express}

Hmmm... immigrants being linked to rape... where have I heard that before...? Anyhow, if you have a memory that reaches further back than two years, you'll remember the outburst of articles that followed, many of which claimed that Sweden is the "rape-capital of the world" AND that these rape-numbers are due to the country's recent high influx of immigrants AND the mandatory link to Muslims was also made of course; some articles complained that the text on the bracelets was only in Swedish and English, and NOT in Arab.

What's true in all of this? It's true that the bracelets were handed out, and it's true that Sweden has an extremely high number of reported rapes compared to the rest of Europe, up to three times as much as other countries. And that's it. It's false that the campaign was a reaction to an "invasion of immigrants" or increased rape-cases because of the immigrants' arrival. The high number of reported rapes in Sweden can be seen as a good thing, and the key word here is "reported." Sweden is a very women-friendly country (as far as I can judge from the outside), and has had many progressive governments; the awareness campaign with the bracelets can be seen as an example of just that. Also important is the way crime-statistics are gathered in Sweden; the crimes are listed when first reported. So when later it becomes clear that it wasn't rape at all, this isn't represented in the statistics. Also Sweden has one of the broadest definitions of rape; this makes it difficult to compare these numbers between nations, as their definition of the crimes can differ quite significantly. Also this extremely high number in Sweden compared to the rest of Europe, and maybe the world, has been so high since the mid 1990s.

Ever since the collation of crime statistics was initiated by the Council of Europe, Sweden has had the highest number of registered rape offences in Europe by a considerable extent. In 1996, Sweden registered almost three times the average number of rape offences registered in 35 European countries. However, this does not necessarily mean rape is three times as likely to occur as in the rest of Europe, since cross-national comparisons of crime levels based on official crime statistics are problematic, due to a number of factors described below.
_{source: Wikipedia}

Since 1996 the numbers have been extremely high, and the "immigrant invasion" was, what, 2015 or 2016? So, please, give us a break here and stop the hate-mongering. Also note, this was an example of right-wing outrage; maybe it will put into perspective all the outrage over the "snowflakes" that get outraged over the misuse of gender-pronouns. Put it all into perspective people, be aware that journalism, just like everything else on this planet, needs to generate profits; the news is sold to you, not merely presented. Outrage, on both sides, generates clicks and ad-revenue. If you're outraged, you're being played. Just sayin'...

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