CoolCab posted:

It's a fantastic example of presenting information in a way that pushes a specific narrative. Lets have an example. Say, I wanted to push a poll that suggested that we should deport Pissflaps, specifically to a place with no internet access. Now, the general population is not going to have much of an opinion on this, obviously (I would hope and imagine not one in one million hold this opinion) which both plays against my narrative, but also to borrow my favorite law term, even an idiot in a hurry would question if that's a useful sample or result.

So, instead of picking at random, I ask people who know Pissflaps. Except that's not actually a useful sample for my narrative either because I imagine you being a decent human being in your everyday activities would mean that if we had a representative sample of people who know you, the pro-exile camp is going to be dwarfed by people who would absolutely vouch for you (as would nearly almost everyone). So instead, I am careful in how I select "people who know Pissflaps." Say, I open a poll in this thread. This is going to select for people who have the most likelihood of holding that extreme position, and, once I've done that I can rephrase the results and highlight the elements that most support my narrative.

Like that old Texan sharpshooter who empties a clip at a barn at random and then draws his target where his shots happened to hit, I might be able to say "of the people who know Pissflaps 7/10 would like him exiled to Sealand. This sample was selected from primarily from a demographic of 18-40s, mostly university educated men who classify themselves as politically engaged" and that's true, but at the same time, I could also say "primarily from a demographic who are more likely to own a poster of an animated comedy show, eat nachos as a meal more then once a week on average and have been affiliated with more then five political parties in their lifetimes" because I suspect that might be true as well.

It's the reason you get the Sun polls that prove 90% of the population supports grinding foreigners into a fine gruel which would replace Jobseekers Allowance.