(Gatestone Institute) Gil Lavi - The "Daily Tally" in the New York Times, a casual-sounding infographic, presents a side-by-side count of casualties and missiles in Gaza and Israel. Although ostensibly a clear representation of violence, it is seriously misleading. Numbers and graphics are a compelling way to prove a point, and a lousy way of explaining what is really going on. During World War II, it is estimated that 378,000 German civilians were killed in British air raids, compared to only 62,000 British civilians killed in German air raids. The Daily Tally quantifies two elements related to the conflict: the number of deaths and the number of attacks. It does not reveal who started the latest round of battle or who the dead are. The numbers simply attempt authoritatively to represent an amount of violence, devoid of all context.
2014-07-28 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive