The Wing-Nuts cannot comprehend statistics.

[Odin2005]

Of course, I think the vast majority of people don't comprehend statistics, but the nuts seem to be even worse than the norm. I realized that having a reasonable discussion with them is impossible because they put anecdotes like "If I can pull myself up by my bootstraps then everyone else can!" or "I once ran into a welfare cheat and therefore everyone who gets government assistance are cheats" above real data, statistical data is simply meaningless to them.

I believe it was Saul Alinsky who said that issues should be personalized into anecdote form, and this is why, the average person simply cannot comprehend statistics.

[appleannie1]

1. They don't comprehend most things that need grey matter.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

2. I have a friend, a republican, that I haven't seen for some time.

One of the stories that she would tell is how her mother saw a pan handler get into a Cadillac when he was done asking for money at the end of the day.

It boggles the mind on a few fronts.

1) Would somebody really make enough to be able to afford a Cadillac by begging for change?

2) If it ever happened it must be urban legend, and the person doing it was running a scam; whereas the majority of pan handlers aren't. In my experience they used to be mentally unstable, but now there are more "average" people that have fallen through the cracks due to this country's great safety net.

3) They're just doing what every other republican does by lying to make money off of the backs of others.


I'm not sure how anybody can really believe that those who ask for change on a corner lead wonderful lives.

[Wounded Bear]

4. This idea is not new.....

it goes back at least 120 years or so.

Sir AC Doyle wrote a Sherlock Holmes story on this very premise. I forget the name, but I remember the episode vividly on the old English TV series.

Frankly, I'm sure there is some projection going on here. Most of the people who spout this crap seem to have an aura of jealousy over this issue, like they wish they could do it, too. It is that way, IMHO, about all of the social welfare programs. They just can't put themselves in somebody else's shoes.

[Frank Cannon]

5. The Man With The Twisted Lip n/t

[Wounded Bear]

6. Yeah, you nailed it....

supposedly the character supported a substantial country gentleman's living by panhandling, while quoting famous lines from literature like Shakespeare.

[sandyshoes17]

3. My parents have a friend

He's a young guy. He is a right winger. He lost his job. He is learning about democrats little by little. He needed that extended unemployment, now the only job he could find is with the board of Ed. Who is helping him , his right wingers or dems. We are that's who we are . I hope he takes a big lesson from this. But he is a right winger , so you don't know. Sometimes they don't get it.