I wanted to major in statistics since I was in 4th grade. There’s something that’s always been fascinating to me about breaking down supposedly complicated questions and topics into neat little numbers. It’s made me hate when people say that statistics lie. No. Statistics don’t lie. People lie. This is basically the same argument as guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Of course I believe in gun control. That’s why I believe in statistics control. There is obviously one big difference – nobody’s kids accidentally get a hold of their parents’ statistics and blow their neighbor’s head off.

Statistics should be used freely by our world, but I think that any time someone wants to post a statistic, they should have to go through a rigorous moral background check that checks if they are a liar. Just like if you want to buy a gun you have to go through a check to make sure you aren’t a murderer. I think you should have the opportunity to lose your ability to provide statistics by lying too much.

One of those people that shouldn’t be allowed to use statistics to “prove” their point is my most youtubed man: Glenn Beck.

At 5:07 Beck shows a chart supposedly proving that Obama has increased spending far more than FDR did – you know the guy that went crazy with spending. Obama plans on spending between 22.8% and 25.4% of our gdp, which is actually the least since the late 60s. And is consistently less than during the Reagan years.

The gradually increasing rate of spending as proportional to our GDP isn’t far too complicated a concept for G.beck, he’s just a liar. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s creating fear by misusing our greatest resource: Statistics. He’s not misusing it. He’s lying.

Here’s statistics used well.