Funny, or not funny?

[Bane]

http://i.imgur.com/xyH3n.png

[shiram]

that chart made little sense to me

[Kadian]

Not really funny, it's just random data to me, not sure if it's supposed to mean something?? There are a few patterns, but they don't seem that significant to me...

[Bane]

The chart says: the higher the religiousness (sp?) the lower the IQ and the higher the theft/murder and shit. Dunno if it's just bullshit or if the numbers actually are true though.

[shiram]

its just seems to be missing clarification, what do the numbers actually mean?
whats a 5 mean in generosity? is it the same thing as in divorce?
are they yearly numbers, averaged by population etc..

makes it hard to take seriously

[Bane]

I guess it's taken out of context, but it was the link I found. Dunno if one could find the actual site where it was first posted, that may explain some shit.

[shiram]

i gotta admit i didnt even try looking up the webistes listed on the chart
they might hold some truth nugget

[Kadian]

I think you are right, they are trying to make is seem like more religion = lower IQ ect... It makes for an interesting topic though...

So here is my opinion, there are just too many problems with the chart, for starters several states with religion in the 70's are just as high I.Q. as the ones in the 40's, plus for the data to show anything you would really need to have the survey studying religion vs. IQ of the same people, the two polls could have been done in different area's of the state, or different age groups or whatever. Also the colors makes it appear that there is a significant difference but really the difference from 85% religious down to 42% is only 10 IQ points max, which isn't a huge amount. Also all the states with the highest religion and lowest IQ are southern states known for having poor education systems, so does it show that lower IQ people are religious, or that those states have a poor education system and just happened to be religious people. I could go on and on, but I am naturally skeptical of all polls, there is always another explanation for the results....

[Bane]

As Mark Twain said, IIRC, "lies, damned lies and statistics". You can always make the figures show what you want them to show, if you have the raw data. I know, I did it in my master thesis, haha

Another thread I read about this chart talked about ethnicity as well, pointing out that some states have higher, for example, latino population and thus higher 'religiousness' than your average 'white' state