I'm not one to spend much time watching either party's convention. But I have been trying to figure out why mainstream media hasn't debunked some of the GOP convention speakers for the best, most obvious reasons.
Life is about probability. Why do news networks ignore this reality? Instead, we get personal stories and anecdotes and other gibberish that tells you absolutely nothing about what has happened on a large scale and what will happen. Instead, we get a parade of freak show, end-of-the-bell-curve personal outcomes that engage emotions but lack any descriptive or predictive utility. The anecdotal sample is too small to represent anything. The stories, in fact, have usually been chosen for their freakishness, their public pop, their very non-representative elements. They aren't much value in painting any kind of full reality picture or predicting general cause-and-effect.
On Monday, the GOP trotted out Tim Scott, the sole black Republican senator. Scott explained that, since his family had gone from cotton fields to Congress in one generation, the best way forward for those interested in fulfilling their potential was via the GOP and President Trump.
Without numbers, Scott's message is hollow and useless. No numbers about black income. No numbers about black Covid-19 issues. No numbers about vertical mobility in America. No numbers about black health care in general. No numbers about black educational scores. No talk of blacks in Congress other than himself. No numbers at all.
What we received was a speech about an individual that offered no real evidence of anything and therefore meant almost nothing. The GOP may as well have lined up some lottery winners to praise the economic miracles of Republican leadership. Bootstrap-hoisting stories are sweet parables, but they are no substitute for facts or numbers. Planning based on parables is no substitute for social policy based on numbers.
When Consumer Reports publishes its automotive issue, it's isn't a bestseller because a handful of car owners give enthusiastic speeches for particular models. It's the most popular issue because an enormous amount of survey information from across the country has been collated and put in a readable format.
Placing successful blacks as political speakers, while referencing no numbers regarding black demographics, health care, or economics, is no different than hiring Michael Jordan to sell sneakers. It's about people holding up personal accomplishments as a reason to buy (or buy into) something. Some people pitch shoes. Some people pitch a political party. It's about trying to sell a white crow as an example of all crows.
Bring on the lottery winners to sell economic policy, the octogenarians to praise American health care, and a Republican who survived a lightning strike to verify that the GOP is both blessed by miracles from a Christian god and has Thor on its side as well. The lottery winners, the octogenarians, and the folks who survived lightning can all be completely sincere. It's not their fault, at least not completely, that they see the world from their narrative stance and ignore all of the numbers. That is, after all, what children do. And America is full of arrested development.
Political parties and voters in democracies should know better than to believe that most crows are white because they're presented with a few examples.
Herschel Walker
Herschel Walker also gave a brief speech in support of President Trump. Trump, buying the USFL New Jersey Generals from J. Walter Duncan in 1983, took over Walker's personal services contract, which was designed to circumvent the fledgling league's salary cap. The contract made Walker the highest paid player in professional football, although technically it was not solely a football contract. In his RNC speech, Walker vouched for Trump as not being racist.
Why would President Trump ever have displayed one iota of racism around Herschel Walker? I'm not sure about this theory of assembling black people to vouch for a white guy's non-racism. Wouldn't you be better served asking white dudes who hung out with the white person suspected of racism? Just a thought, but a pretty obvious one. The Walker speech was almost a "Hey, I have a black friend; I can't be a racist" moment.
Summary
Biographies are not proof for policies. Why doesn't every news organization state this before launching into personality pieces or analyses of autobiographical speeches? If you trot out people instead of numbers to make your points, it's a sign you have no proof for your policies.
Bob Dietz
August 28, 2020
