Who Is Misinformed Now?

Last fall I mocked a Fairleigh Dickinson poll that concluded that Fox viewers were distinctively misinformed about foreign affairs. From a HuffPo summary:

Fox News Viewers Know Less Than People Who Don't Watch Any News: Study

Fox News viewers are less informed than people who don't watch any news, according to a new poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

The poll surveyed New Jersey residents about the uprisings in Egypt and the Middle East, and where they get their news sources. The study, which controlled for demographic factors like education and partisanship, found that "people who watch Fox News are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government" and "6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government" compared to those who watch no news.

The specific poll question was this:

To the best of your knowledge, have the opposition groups protesting in Egypt been successful in bringing down the regime there?

They asked about "the regime", not Mubarak. As I said back then, Mubarak was arguably the front man for a regime which still held power. And based on recent headlines, the notion that the regime has been overthrown is even less plausible.

But who knew?

WE INTERRUPT THIS SNEERING to segue to some gloating - in the May 2012 follow-up, the question was changed to specifically mention Hosni Mubarak.

Comments

[MarkO]

Ah, the daily double.

[MarkO]

Yoo knew.

[narciso]

Btw, will they be sending Biden or Brennan, to the Nayef funeral,

[BR]

I'm still catching up with the last 3 threads, but somewhere in there TK linked to an article at American Thinker about Hawaii's May 22, 2012 Verification of Birth sent to Bennett, AZ Secy of State. It's a long technical discussion, but what struck me right away is the missing date of birth. Wasn't he supposed to be born on August 4th, 1961? Maybe we can get Mann to pull out his hockey stick and do some tree-ring dating on Obama's jeans.

[BR]

Good place to get up-to-date news on Syria is here: Live Blog on Developments in Syria. Contains by-the-minute news from people inside Syria.

The 10th Syrian General just defected and went to join the resistance in Turkey.

[Ignatz]

If the resistance is in Turkey and the war is in Syria I'm guessing the chinless dentist still has the upper hand.

[Comanche Voter]

My youngest daughter--then aged 8 or so--used to love riddles and jokes taken from a book of jokes. They were screamingly funny to an 8 year old mind. But if you read the joke to her--and didn't read it exactly as written--well then it wasn't funny.

Fairleigh Dickinson "researchers" are sort of like that. They've got a prescripted answer or "punch line" in their polls. And boy, if you don't get the punch line right, well hell fire you are "stoopid".

Looks like those "Faux" News Viewers didn't get the punch line to satisfy the Fairleigh Dickinson folks.

Well tough noogies to the morons from New Jersey (assuming that's the home state of Fairleigh Dickinson). They need to get out more and see the real world.

[Rick Ballard]

TM,

You will be pleased to know your commentary had the effect of changing the wording of the question in the latest Fairleigh Dickinson Propaganda Reinforcement Effort

K1. To the best of your knowledge, have the opposition groups protesting in Egypt been successful in removing Hosni Mubarak?

Is Fairleigh Dickenson a New Jersey Pitzer?

[I will try to use my newfound power wisely! As my uncle told me,with great irrelevance comes great inconsequentiality. I think...]

[Jd]

I can't say if Fox viewers are less informed that viewers of MSNBC (gag), but I can say that readers of most American newspapers are less informed" than readers of foreign newspapers.
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/15-06-2012/121397-barack_obama_prison-0/

[Ignatz]

What is the point of the phrase 'to the best of your knowledge' in those questions?
I understand its use in certain courtroom situations, and even there it's often misused, but why here, where it can easily be [mis]construed as 'in your opinion'?
GIGO?

[Porchlight]

You took the words right out of my mouth, Ignatz. Just remove the phrase altogether and the question works fine. I think they just use stuff like that for filler to set up the question.

[Ignatz]

--Just remove the phrase altogether and the question works fine.--

What's the alternative:
To the worst of your knowledge?
You can guess if you'd like, especially if you're a stupid Faux viewer?

[Porchlight]

You can guess if you'd like, especially if you're a stupid Faux viewer?

Maybe. It could induce the respondent to hesitate. It sort of hints that the respondent isn't knowledgeable and might need to think really, really hard.

But it's nothing compared to using "regime" instead of Mubarak, which is truly misleading.

[Ignatz]

BTW I am barely able to resist any number of wise asseries regarding the name Fairleigh Dickinson, no small number of which involve this FD physics dude.

[Porchlight]

To answer your real question, Ignatz - there doesn't need to be an alternative to the phrase. It should read:

Have the opposition groups protesting in Egypt been successful in removing Hosni Mubarak?

[Ignatz]

--But it's nothing compared to using "regime" instead of Mubarak, which is truly misleading.--

I don't think that demonstrates intentional misleading on their part, but instead rank stupidity.
I suspect they actually believed the regime was gone, despite widespread skepticism, and tagged a perfectly respectable opinion as being the denial of a non existent fact; differing opinions seen as denying non existent facts being a hallmark of the oh so tolerant and scientific left.

[Rick Ballard]

The purpose of the study was to reinforce the notion Fox viewers are less well informed than those watching regime approved propaganda. The addition of "to the best of your knowledge" will elicit more guesses than the direct question. Regime approved propaganda organs gave much more play to Obama's Arab Spring disaster until the carrion stench from Libya and Syria became overpowering.

[boatbuilder]

Am I misreading this, or did the poll consist of only two questions? What the hell kind of study is that?

[narciso]

It also happens to be Noonan's alma mater.

[boatbuilder]

I did misread it--4 questions about international affairs, 4 questions about domestic issues. The numbers don't look very good, even for those brilliant NPR listeners.

[Jane]

I think we should have our own poll:

To the best of your knowledge Fairleigh Dickinson pollsters the dumbest people around?

vote 1. for YES

vote 2. for NO

vote 3 for "its a tie with Pitzer"

[matt]

We used to call it Fairly Ridiculous, as even way back in the 70's they had a rep as a pretty lightweight school. Plus ca change and all that....

[Annoying Old Guy]

Jane;

Why not just

1) In Oct 2008, did you think Barack Obama was qualified to be President of the United States?

2) Today, do you think Barack Obama is qualified to be President of the United States?

That'd give you four groupings - informed (N/N), ignorant (Y/N), stupid (Y/Y), suffered head trauma* (N/Y).

* Possibly "got a job with the Obama Administration" but it's not clear that's really different.

[Danube of Thought]

Five reasons Romney will win.

Money paragraphs:

In most presidential elections, undecided voters break in large numbers for the challenger. If someone is undecided about an incumbent they know well, they will usually cast their ballot for the challenger. That’s particularly true when the country is suffering from economic difficulties and the political fundamentals are bad for the person occupying the Oval Office, which is certainly the case today.

Craig Shirley’s book Rendezvous With Destiny reminds us that 10 days before the 1980 election, Jimmy Carter led Ronald Reagan by one point in a CBS News/New York Times poll; and the morning of the presidential debate (October 29), a Gallup Poll reported that Carter had a three-point lead over Reagan. Yet Reagan outdueled Carter in the debate and ended up winning 44 states and defeating Carter by almost 10 points.

[sailor]

Dot, I hope you are right.

[Clarice]

Isn't it interesting? Rip out a guy's knee and suddenly he turns from a pessimist to an optimist...

Smooches, recuperating poll watcher.

[narciso]

Take care, Danube;

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/06/us-official-russian-sends-troops-to-syria-as-peace-talks-fail/

[Captain Hate]

It also happens to be Noonan's alma mater.

That one's going in long-term memory where I'm sure it will be very useful some day. IOW I can't think of a smartass line now based on it.

[Ignatz]

--Isn't it interesting? Rip out a guy's knee and suddenly he turns from a pessimist to an optimist...--

Very funny, clarice.

[Have Blue]

Not to mention that it is a reasonable contention that the people who disposed of the regime were not the pro-democratic protestors but the hardliners in the Muslim Brotherhood.

[Have Blue]

Put a guy on powerful painkillers after you rip out his knee and he turns from a pessimist to an optimist.

FIFY

[Danube of Thought]

Have Blue is very perceptive--those Percocets will perk a man right up.

Except I'm not taking any today. Against all advice I had a Martini chaser with them last night, and spent the night hallucinating about--get this--Fibonacci numbers. (No, Iggy, no associated shapes.)

[Have Blue]

Danube - I had the meniscus cartilage removed from my right knee two days before the presidential election in 2000. Spent the entire Bush-Gore saga on pain killers in an easy chair with a TV remote. Fun times.

Remember looking at the TV through a set of fifteen or so astronomical color filters and trying to decide which complemented the various commentators.

[MarkO]

Ain't medicine grand?

I definitely want to see the analyst’s notes of sessions for a man whose stimulated unconscious calls up visions of Fibonacci numbers.

[hit and run]

DoT:
Except I'm not taking any today.

Um, you're not taking any more?

I'm looking at your 11:10 from the previous thread.

[Clarice]

That's a little rude, hit..XOXO

[Jane]

I can't believe the last group in the OPEN tees off at 6:00 - sheesh. So JIB, if you are around, yesterday were you talking about Beau when you posted about Francis Quimet? I don't think I can blame the vodka for that one.

[Ignatz]

--(No, Iggy, no associated shapes.)--

Now that's what I call a bad trip.

[Danube of Thought]

Took two at about nine but have held off since then in the interest of a civilized cocktail hour.

I'm not sure that Percocet, even withou alcohol, wouldn't set me to hallucinating. Had some unpleasant experiences with it.

[Jane]

I always say I'm allergic to percocet and go with Vicodin. I too have hallucinated on it. I think that is a fairly common side effect.

[Mike]

I propose that when it comes to foreign affairs,let's not take any public opinion poll seriously. Americans overall, are astonishingly dumb on foreign matters, hence the easy sell of the Iraq war debacle.

I recall that even 3 years after being proven to false, a majority of the American people still believed Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. They also believed we had found WMDSs after the invasion.

[hit and run]

I had vicodin one time after surgery on my ...er... parts.

I have an aversion to any type of medicine. I won't take anything. Well, that's not true. In recent years I've been forced to take benadryl when mowing the grass due to a severe increase in allergies. Grrrr.

But I've never ever taken pain medication in any form. Won't do it. Won't take anyting for a cold or flu. Just won't. It's not necessarily rational, in fact I'm sure it's irrational, but I just won't do it.

Except for that surgery. The vicodin was necessary and used to the maximum recommmended dosage.

Oh, and yeah, I was in a bed in recovery for a couple hours after that surgery. I'm not sure what it was I was hooked up to, but I clicked that button more often than Ken Jennings on Jeopardy. When the nurse came to check on me she asked, "on a scale of one to ten, what where would you rate your pain?"

I said eleven.

In the middle of the surgery, I awoke, sat up, and threw up all over myself. I wasn't entirely conscious, so I don't remember it.

Thank goodness. For the anesthesiologist.

Just kidding.

[Porchlight]

I still have Vicodin left over from a kidney stone attack back in 1996.

That stuff will mess you up. When I heard about Brett Favre's problems I completely understood.

But it's nice having them around. Except for the last time I took one (for fun, with a girlfriend, after a few glasses of wine) I broke my toe and didn't even realize it until the next day.

That's why the rest of them are still in the medicine cabinet.

[Ralph L]

I had vicodin one time after surgery on my ...er... parts.
Got too close to a meat grinder, or too big for your natural britches?

I had a cardio-catheterization at Bethesda 5 days before going off to college. They gave me enough drugs that I didn't care when my heart missed multiple beats from the tube shoved in it. Nor did I care when a doctor put most of his weight on the pressure bandage on my groin (giving me a 6" diameter purple bruise and a limp). When the corpseman inflated the blood-pressure cuff afterwards, it set me off on a long trip which ended when he took it off. Unfortunately, it was all out of my system the next morning when they ripped the bandage off, and in the afternoon when I had my braces off after 4 miserable years.

[Sara]

I recall that even 3 years after being proven to false, a majority of the American people still believed Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. They also believed we had found WMDSs after the invasion.

I think it was more that the MSM thought that Americans are as dumb as they are and since they believed that the people believed then the people must have believed that Saddam was a very bad guy who needed to go. However, there were WMD found, just not reported in the MSM. Go back and read some of the sites devoted to national/international security and forget what you heard on the networks and places like CNN.

[Sara]

Vicodin makes me violently ill. The only pain killers that do not make me sick or hallucinate are Demerol and morphine. About a year ago, the doctor tried me on Dilaudid. I can tolerate it, but the first 45 minutes after taking the prescribed dose, I get dizzy and really queasy. If I can make myself get by that first 45 minutes, I'm okay. After awhile, though, the anticipation of that dizziness and queasiness is worse than the pain itself and I end up taking 800-1600 mg of Advil, which, of course, wreaks havoc on my kidneys, which drives my doc crazy.

Doctors back in Maryland were willing to give you whatever worked, out here in Calif., getting anything stronger than a jelly bean requires persistence and tears help too.

[Mark Folkestad]

Sara, Vicodin does terrible things to my intestines. Things are changing, for the worse, in getting pain medications. My orthopedic surgeon said that I should have six Oxycodone a day for the rest of my life, with the residual pain, even after surgery, for my broken back. My personal physician, a friend, refused to prescribe that, but after several months of battling, finally gave me monthly prescriptions for ONE per day, to be used to reduce pain so I could get to sleep each night. Then he cut me off totally, because he said that the FDA would call him a "doctor feelgood", and that he would lose his license. So, for many months, I've been without a normal night's sleep.

[Sara]

I hear ya' Mark. I totally sympathize with you on back pain after fracture(s). There are not enough words to describe how intense and horrendous that pain is. I don't think doctors have a clue. I thought I understood pain after I blew out my knee and split my tibia, but that was child's play compared to the ongoing back pain.

Oxy scares me.

I'm working on trying to get a nerve block at the point of pain. One of my d-i-l's clients just had it done and I'm told the results are miraculous.

[Ralph L]

My step-mother ruined her colon (and probably her brain) with pain medication and other pres. drugs (we think she has Munchausen's, in addition to some real ailments). She went down to skin, bone, and fake boobs in a short time. Five years later, she still brings up the colostomy bag she had for 6 months, usually at mealtime. Then they put her on Prednisone and her head and shoulders bloated freakishly.

[Manuel Transmission]

A lifelong buddy and pilot that was always careful of diet/weight, etc. had a bone marrow transplant last summer. They put him on Prednisone afterward and he bloated out like he was having triplets in addition to the head/neck bloat. Very bizarre.

[Jane]

Prednisone is a bizarre drug. Not only does it make you fat, it also makes you angry. My doctor told me recently you should never be on it for longer than a few weeks.

[Clarice]

If you are suffering from nerve pain, you might ask your doctor about lyrica. I take it at bedtime and it helps keep the pain at tolerable levels.

I have cortisone nerve block shots on occasion when the pain is too substantial but since beginning on lyrica I haven't needed one.

[sbw]

Prednisone has its place. Massive amounts helped save my wife's life. But then you have to be weaned off slowly right down to a teensy amount every other day.

On the other hand, a week-long course of prednizone (i.e. 5-4-3-2-1) may be therapeutic and no danger.