Extending Unemployment Benefits

First, this is not about the pros and cons of extending unemployment benefits.  It’s about using critical thinking to deal with the information we receive on any subject.  This just happens to be a good example.

At the end of this CNN Money article they ask:  “Do you receive unemployment insurance? Have you not been looking for a job as hard because you are getting benefits? Email [address] with your contact information and you could be contacted for an upcoming story or video.”

Two thoughts.  As I have pointed out many times before, testimonials or anecdotes are not evidence.  These reporters will receive e-mails and sort through them to find ones to support the story they want to tell.  Second, even if they condensed the information received and delivered a summary, this is an extremely poor method of sampling.  Their data would not be representative and any statistical conclusions would be meaningless.  How many people do you seriously think will e-mail to say that they are just sitting around until their unemployment runs out, making no effort to find a job?

This practice of finding an individual example and selling it as the plight or experience of many is common among reporters, politicians and advertisers.  They want to put a face on the crisis, but it borders on deception.  Often the purpose is to gather support for a cause or product by eliciting an emotional reaction from the viewers or voters.  It steers us away from the kind of critical thinking and analytical problem solving required to get us (the US) out of the mess we are in.