May 29, 2007

Pollaganda

New VDARE.com column:


Lies, Damned Lies, and Pollaganda


My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

By Steve Sailer on 5/29/2007 Labels: ,

14 comments:

togo said...

Poll rigging has a long history. British Intelligence used rigged polls to help push the US towards entry into WW2:
http://www.mises.org/misesreview_detail.asp?control=122&sortorder=issue#
(...)
The polls that showed American support for violations of neutrality were rigged by British agents. "British intelligence had `penetrated' the Gallup organization.... British intelligence officer David Ogilvy later wrote about his days at Gallup: `I could not have had a better boss than Dr. Gallup. His confidence in me was such that I do not recall his ever reading any of the reports I wrote in his name'" (p. 75). By careful manipulation of the questions asked, results could be contrived to order. "In 1940 and 1941, BSC [British Security Coordination] rigged a series of polls...to project the notion that the members of prominent organizations were pro-British, avidly in favor of intervention, and intensely antagonistic toward America First" (p. 77).

Mr. Mahl's argument seems to me a vital contribution to World War II historiography. Further research is needed, though, to consolidate his thesis. What exactly were the questions asked in the various polls? Had they been phrased differently, would the respondents have answered in a way more consistent with non-intervention?

The balance of evidence suggests strongly that they would have done so. Although a Gallup poll taken August 1940 showed an "astounding figure" of 70 percent in favor of conscription, Congressional mail "overwhelmingly" opposed the draft (p. 83). Further, a poll sponsored by Robert Hutchins, a strong opponent of the war, showed that only 34 percent of the public favored entry into the war, even if Britain was defeated.
(...)

5/29/07, 7:18 AM
Anonymous said...

Lots of pro-immigration folks are writing that current illegals commit crimes at lower rates than natives.

I think that this means that current illegals commit crimes at lower rates than native Hispanics.

But I suspect that this is still at a higher rate than the average native and also higher than whites.

Please write an article about this ASAP

5/29/07, 8:45 AM
Steve Sailer said...

On crime and immigration:

http://www.vdare.com/Sailer/060312_sampson.htm

5/29/07, 8:47 AM
Anonymous said...

Its so disheartening to see the forces arrayed against the vast majority of American society on this issue. Elitist like Jacoby, think tanks, the media in general, and the rest of our overclass KNOW how Joe Sixpack and Jerome Sixpack feel about illegal immigration and high rates of immigration in general.

They just dont give a damn, and are willing to lie as "hard" as necessary to both get it, and get it while feeling morally superior about it. Any failures of assimilation like high crime rates, high dropout rates, and low language conversion will be blamed on Joe Sixpack and Jerome Sixpack's "racism" and xenophobia. They, the elite, can't lose. Dispiriting. Miles

5/29/07, 9:00 AM
Anonymous said...

Have you seen this aspect of the immigration bill:

http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/gen/29878prs20070525.html?s_src=RSS

Instead of protecting the borders, apparently the only way to keep illegals from working in the U.S. is by having the Department of Homeland Security vet every single person in America who wants a job.

The logic of airport 'security' marches on.

5/29/07, 10:16 AM
Ron Guhname said...

Guys who manipulate survey results should be taken out and shot. Polls are the only way to get beyond hunches, impressions, and spin. This is why I hate the social sciences. We should be able to rely on them for the truth, but it's just fancier spin.

5/29/07, 11:31 AM
Anonymous said...

Great piece, Steve. I'm sure you get tired having of having to explain the cheap and redundant tactics of immigration advocates for the umpteenth time, but we appreciate it.

And Tamar Jacoby? I hate that woman. She epitomizes immigration surreality.


Elitist like Jacoby, think tanks, the media in general, and the rest of our overclass KNOW how Joe Sixpack and Jerome Sixpack feel about illegal immigration and high rates of immigration in general.

I'm sure Tamar Jacoby is no elitist. After all, with the flowery language she invests in describing modern Hispanic immigration and the way they are transforming America for the better, she must live somewhere like East LA, right? ;-)

Ron Guhname,

Guys who manipulate survey results should be taken out and shot. Polls are the only way to get beyond hunches, impressions, and spin. This is why I hate the social sciences. We should be able to rely on them for the truth, but it's just fancier spin.

There really should be some objective guidelines about how to construct an honestly worded, non-leading poll. To the extent the wording of poll questions cannot be made absolutely neutral, then pollsters should be obliged to ask two or more variations of the same question. The influence of wording in poll questions is well known, but I doubt there is really much empirical research on the subject that might tell us how to ascertain public opinion with more accuracy.

5/29/07, 4:45 PM
Anonymous said...

somewhat off topic, but i think i figured out why statistics say that the most common interracial marriage is between a white person and a "hispanic" person, but nobody can verify this by going out and observing this supposedly common couple.

it's because anybody is free to identify themselves as white on the census. so you probably end up with millions of mixed race latin americans identifying themselves as "white" and marrying other latin americans who picked "hispanic".

the census really falls down here, putting millions of mixed race people from mexico as well as arabs into the category that was supposed to count europeans. that means the census overestimates how many europeans are really in the US. the FBI also operates this way, which is head scratching.

the census also does not count illegal aliens, of which very few are european. so the census overestimates the percentage of euros in america by quite a lot. the media made a story out of the US growing beyond 300 million in 2006, when in reality it had passed that point years earlier.

5/29/07, 6:23 PM
Anonymous said...

Here's a Larry Kudlow quote from the cited Wikipedia article:

"...Kudlow called for the US to attack Iraq because "a lack of decisive follow-through in the global war on terrorism is the single biggest problem facing the stock market and the nation today."

An interesting ordering of priorities.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of thier stock-market.

Ask not what you stock-market can do for you, ask what you can do for your stock-market

5/29/07, 9:21 PM
Anonymous said...

Larry Kudlow (who is a born again Christian, btw) had Tamar Jacoby and Tom Tancredo on last week. Tancredo was off his game -- he needs to shorten his punches for the quick TV format. Jacoby looks like a Romulan.

5/29/07, 10:07 PM
Anonymous said...

the FBI also operates this way, which is head scratching

Why is it "head scratching"? The FBI is on the koolaid for the New Improved America Project. The table is officially tilted against whites from now on, Joe Sixpack.

Its so disheartening to see the forces arrayed against the vast majority of American society on this issue...

This nation's founding people, principles and culture is under homicidal attack by radical Trotskyites. They have decapitated the nation's natural elite and now are ushering in New America. It is highly sophisticated social warfare.

Let's wake up. It is fatal to believe the rate of social change will remain constant. They are really showing their fangs with this immigration bill. And it will only become more intense. The pace will pick up. The tactic is Disorientation. Sprinkle numerous smaller attacks with broadsides that are so gigantic and aggressive that the target is paralyzed with shock. Then berate, assuage, berate, assuage, berate, assuage, berate, assuage, berate, assuage...

Does this sound familiar?

While they make advances in this culture war, they will ratchet up the victimization. They will scream hysterically that the nation is about to succumb to Fascists while they consolidate the legal framework for the subjugation of incorrect beliefs. The Hate Crime Bills will not stop. The Election of a New People will not stop. Trotskyism is a permanent state of revolution. There is no end to the social engineering that must take place.

The American People are the most generous people on the planet regarding the immigration of racial and cultural aliens and always have been. That is beyond any dispute. And what is the New Improved America Project reaction? Hysterical accusations of Nazism.

People, there are consequences to allowing yourself to be intimidated. The entire reeducation program for the West is based on equating any and all racial identity with Nazism and then guilt tripping the target into submission. If you drink that koolaid the result will be getting shoved off the land you presently occupy wherever that land may be by coercion, force, low birth rate, attrition or simple alienation.

This conflict is building. Larry Auster is really on fire over there today. He lays it on the line. If we don't rediscover healthy traditional racial identity as a people we are doomed. But we are stirring. We must reverse the recent history of process in all the Western nations. All processes can be reversed if acted upon in time.

Take heart. We are a people who waged unforgettably devastating civil war in order to free slaves slaves of another race. Who the hell else in the history of mankind has demonstrated that level of humane compassion? The answer is absolutely no one.

We saved the world from Hitler, Stalin and all the rest.

We as a people have nothing to be guilty about as compared to the other peoples of this earth. There is no magical people of higher moral authority out there. There are only jealous scoundrels who cannot stand the people, principles and culture of this nation.

They just dont give a damn, and are willing to lie as "hard" as necessary to...get it

Let's dispense with all benefit of the doubt and naivete. It is raw hatred that motivates the enemy. Our new Commissars would burn the Founders Fathers at the stake if they only could. To them, the First and Second Amendments are intolerable empowerment of draft animals.

I was very glad to read Mr Sailer's bottom line in his latest column as it alludes to the real motives of the enemy:

Elite opinion, in contrast, is dominated by sentimentality and status-climbing—or worse.

5/29/07, 10:46 PM
Anonymous said...

Signs of life: This lady named Heather MacDonald who apparently is a recovering liberal was on the Wall Street Journal roundtable talk show on Foxnews over the weekend. And that is enemy territory, boys. She was completely surrounded by the Open Borders Zombies and dispatched them all with a stream of well-presented FACTS a la the iSteve. She crushed them! A guy named Henninger, the host Gigot, and some other guy I'd never heard of. If there is video on the net check it out and post the link. I don't have time to hunt it down. It was classic. She simply would not stop methodically and clearly presenting the FACTS and the opposition was completely offended that the conversation was being allowed to take place. Henninger was twitching with rage. Gigot had his bubble burst and was having trouble computing it all. The other guy was in over his head and just shut up.

There are signs of life out there. I think Heather reads iSteve and Auster and a few other heretics.

PS Foxnews is in the tank on this immigration bill. Rove or Murdoch or whoever put the word out and even the Freepers have noticed the silence. Fox website is like Pravda on this issue.

5/29/07, 11:12 PM
Anonymous said...

Lots of pro-immigration folks are writing that current illegals commit crimes at lower rates than natives.

The claim is obviously bogus.

First, we don't know how many illegals are in the country. Second, the police don't catch every criminal, and they aren't equipped (and often are instructed not to attempt) to determine the immigration status of the criminals they do catch.

And, of course, every illegal alien has committed at least one criminal offense punishable by up to 6 months' imprisonment, i.e., a violation of 8 U.S.C. section 1325.

5/30/07, 6:36 PM
Anonymous said...

And, of course, every illegal alien has committed at least one criminal offense punishable by up to 6 months' imprisonment, i.e., a violation of 8 U.S.C. section 1325.

Not to mention that virtually every illegal alien of working age must falsify identification and social security numbers.

5/30/07, 9:33 PM

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