Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id FAA27112 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sat, 16 Feb 2002 05:16:09 GMT From: <AaronLynch@aol.com> Message-ID: <116.c68011f.299f43c2@aol.com> Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 00:10:26 EST Subject: Re: An odd addition to the axis of evil To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 4.0 for Windows 95 sub 113 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
In a message dated 2/15/2002 5:06:59 PM Central Standard Time, Ray Recchia
<rrecchia@mail.clarityconnect.com> writes:
> > Hi Ray.
> >
> > I interpret the editor's comments as political damage control in the
> > wake of
> > coverage in The Times, and probably in other publications. The editor
> > is
> > surely aware of the criticisms of neo-conservative xenophobia and
> > ignorance
> > by more mainstream thinkers. An example is again the criticism that
> > erupted
> > when Pat Robertson called Scotland a "dark land."
> >
> > It's also very unlikely that 41% of respondents would all think of the
> > same
> > joke, and all play that joke on the same country. There are so many
> > countries
> > that any one of them would only be the butt of a much smaller
> > percentage of
> > the jokes.
> >
> > --Aaron Lynch
> >
> Depends on the wording of the question and the number of choices given.
> I worked in the polling business for two years and I believe it could
> have happened easily.
>
> I occassionally have to eat sandwich of dark feathered bird. It's not
> always fun but sometimes you are better off just keeping your mouth
> closed while you chew it.
>
>
> Ray Recchia
Hi Ray.
Perhaps I misunderstood Vincent's original post, and the excerpt from
The Times, but when The Times says that Weekly Standard readers
were asked to "NOMINATE a fourth member for George W. Bush's Evil
Axis," I interpret this as meaning that they are asked to write the name
of a country of their own choosing rather than picking from a small list.
If there was indeed a very short list, then the 41% might not be
significant, especially if there were also few respondents.
--Aaron Lynch
In a message dated 2/13/2002 6:38:29 AM Central Standard Time, Vincent
Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> writes:
> Hi everyone,
>
> Saw this in 'The Times' last Friday, thought it was interesting:
>
> [From the Media Diary]
>
> 'The readers of the Weekly Standard, bible of American neo-conservatives
and
> a distant colonial cousin of this newspaper [owned by Murdoch then...],
have
> an unusual grasp of foreign affairs. In its Question of the Week section,
> readers were asked to nominate a fourth member for George W.Bush's Evil
Axis
> of Iran, Iraq and North Korea. Syria was suggested by 32 per cent of
> readers, Libya by 7 per cent, but the runaway winner was France which
polled
> 41 per cent.'
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