As I've grown up, I've learned about the dangers of misrepresentation of data. In my GCSE Statistics course, it was actually quite fun presenting outrageous claims backed up by data that I'd selectively chosen and twisted to back up my hypothesis.
This, however, was only in a class room, and not on a widely watched and, for some reason, respected website.

The Muslim Demographics video on youtube has been shared on forums I visit by 'scared' young posters, or incredibly gullible and even racist older members. Whilst everybody needs somebody to hate, it's quite astounding to see how ignorant people can be of the concept of 'representation'. Whilst one could argue that a religious extremist from any religion is a representative of the entire body of believers, it would be incredibly stupid to do so. Whilst a handful of men might decide it is wise to blow up a car in order to make themselves heard, that is, fortunately, NOT what the other 5 million believers would do.


Now, it is statistically proven that 99% of all statistics are falsely represented or even made up.
Guess what the above statistic is? That's right; it's made up. A nice cliché from my Statistics classroom.

The Muslim Demographic video, as objectively disputed by the BBC response on the Radio 4 program "More or Less", (BBC Muslim Demographics: The Truth) is rather inaccurate. Not only, as the presenter tells listeners, do the creators of the original Demographic video falsify some statistics, but they do not handle the real ones with care or realistically.


However, it is not only religious people, or, as seen by recent events on a forum I visit, non-religious people, that are grossly misrepresented by every day slander and chin-wagging.

Anybody can be presented to others as something they aren't, just by the vibration of the vocal cords, movement of the tongue and the lower jaw of another person.
I am sure that I speak for everybody that the polite phrase "Oh, I'm sure he's misrepresenting me!" in response to somebody saying "Oh Roger's told me many things about you" is, some of the time, not false modesty. Exaggeration, or even under-evaluation of a person's talents, personality or other virtues can always embarrass or over-stimulate the ego.

Telling a person enquiring after another at a party that s/he is 'shy' or 'a little dull' is unfair misrepresentation indeed, for example. It could be that the person being observed is not, in fact dull, but just does not have the same interests as the person producing this verbal portrait.


Tabloids are especially good at misrepresenting stories, events and people. Just this month, a newspaper was found to have taken the unfinished study of a final year student at Leicester University, and printed that 'Scientists' have found that scantily clad girls are 'more likely to be raped' and that 'promiscuous men' are more likely to do the raping. On investigation, of course, the poor student was stunned to find that her unfinished work was misrepresented in such a way, but  that they'd printed completely fabricated results; she found no trend whatsoever in clothing or behaviour of women that get raped.

Unfortunately, what many people fail to realise is that anything, including the declaration that mouse droppings cure shingles, can be persuasively argued if the statistics/evidence given and the writing style used looks credible.


Perhaps the world would be a better place if people took a minute to critically think about whether the speaker/writer/video-maker is biased, has an agenda or whether or not the evidence is quoted and correctly used.