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In reply to the discussion: My encounter with a batshit right-wing nut at the bar this evening [View all]gordianot
(15,279 posts)He is basically using Joesph Stalins argument and approach to statistics.
In the days when Stalin was Commissar of Munitions, a meeting was held of the highest ranking Commissars, and the principal matter for discussion was the famine then prevalent in the Ukraine. One official arose and made a speech about this tragedy the tragedy of having millions of people dying of hunger. He began to enumerate death figures
Stalin interrupted him to say: If only one man dies of hunger, that is a tragedy. If millions die, thats only statistics.
He would have gotten along well with Stalin. Modern Conservatives Republicans embrace this approach constantly emphasizing personal often isolated incidents and dismissing the larger picture of facts and numbers.