Thank you for putting this together, Marcel Harmon. We’re working on this defense.
“Governor Brownback, his ultra-conservative allies in the Kansas legislature and the Kansas Policy Institute (KPI) have been fairly bold in their misrepresentation of data, in general and specifically in their attacks on public education. Likely they vary as to how explicitly they recognize their own data misrepresentation, with some believing their misrepresentations to be true and others justifying their actions through their end goals (one being the privatization of public education). In all cases their beliefs and actions are reinforced through self-imposed isolation from those who disagree with them, the removal of legislators who don’t toe the line from key committees being one example of this…
“The best defense against public officials who’ve violated the public trust through various forms of Trickster misrepresentations is an informed and engaged public (in conjunction with a free press). A public that challenges legislators when they misrepresent data; a public that insists our state leaders engage with those outside their inner circle. But that takes work on our part. It’s not easy being a citizen in a representative democracy.”
Read more here: http://culturalcommentary.blogspot.com/2015/12/cherry-picking-data-tricksters-assault.html?m=1