Thursday, October 13, 2005

Air pollution, Weasel Boy and dumbfuckitude. Tying up the loose ends.


OK, barring any stunning new developments, I'm going to summarize what we've learned so far and move on. (Read the three previous installments to get up to speed.)

First, we've learned that this guy is a dumb fuck. How else can you describe someone who reads a single, highly implausible Yahoo article, accepts it as gospel without even following the link to read the actual report, then blogs about it from a position of overwhelming ignorance?

Recall that the original Yahoo article contained the following claim:

Between 1995 and 2002, Canada cut its air pollution by 1.8 per cent while the United States achieved a cut of 45 per cent, says the report by Environmental Defence and the Canadian Environmental Law Association.

However, if you follow the link at the bottom of the page to Pollution Watch, you immediately see that there is no reference whatsoever to any data to support the claim of a massive decrease in American air pollution -- that web site contains strictly Canadian data, so anyone with an ounce of sense would have been very reluctant to make sweeping claims based on that.

Only if one puts in a little effort does one learn that the American data actually came from here, and a careful examination shows how selective that claim is. Note that only the first category of that table, "On-site air emissions," shows that massive discrepancy in reduction of air pollution and, according to a member of Pollution Watch, those figures aren't even measuring the same thing. But keep reading the table.

The category of "On-site surface water discharges" shows a 49.9% decrease for Canada, with a 16% increase for the U.S. Man, are those losers pathetic. And keep reading, through the remaining categories, which seem to show Canada leading the way in almost every one of them, with a final value of "Total releases and transfers" for Canada of -8.7%, and for the U.S. of -6.8%

Well, how about that? I am so fucking humbled. And this is the data on which Weasel Boy based his blog entry, writing "Stupid Canada. Bunch of hosers."

That insult so does not need any final smackdown from me, does it? Fucking wanker. And you just know he's not going to retract a word of it, don't you?

1 comment:

Cathie from Canada said...

Good series. Its a warning for all of us, I think, not to accept "news stories" at face value just because AP is posting it. Sounds like the reporter and the editor screwed up royally, then the blogger takes it from there. Thus are urban legends born.