• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    The trick is to always assume “China is lying about its internal statistics” and inflate whatever number they give by an arbitrary large percentage. 1.7M is obviously an under-count because the CCP is always lying about everything.

    Also, you can do some broad brush “Everyone in Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, North Korea, and Taiwan are prisoners of the Chinese state, so actually that’s over 60M people” napkin math to make the numbers look better.

    • wpb@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      I think this is a good rule of thumb in general. When statistics agree with my preconceived notions, I consider them trustworthy, and if not, I assume that reality lines up with what I expect. For example, the referendum in held in the Baltics about leaving the USSR ended in favor of leaving, which I think is a good example of a trustworthy statistic. But the subsequent referendum in the remaining members ended in favor of staying in the USSR, and I think that’s a little suspicious, don’t you?

      • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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        7 hours ago

        When statistics agree with my preconceived notions, I consider them trustworthy, and if not, I assume that reality lines up with what I expect.

        I… thought you were being sarcastic. This is an obvious and severe flaw to have in one’s rational thinking.

        prejudice (noun)
        1. The act or state of holding unreasonable preconceived judgments or convictions.
        2. An adverse judgment or opinion formed unfairly or without knowledge of the facts.

    • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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      11 hours ago

      No, Occupied China doesn’t control DPRK or ROC

      If we play that game we can’t trust American numbers either so the whole conversation becomes pointless