Lies, Lies and Damn Statistics

I'm not trying to play down the potential problem of racially motivated violence, but I thought this was a bizarre and extremely slanted article in The Washington Post.

The title of the article 'Violence in Germany Surges Ahead of World Cup' is extremely misleading. While it seems to be a fact that racial violence in Germany has increased over the last year; associating this with the World Cup is sensationalist nonsense. Racism in Germany, quite clearly to anyone prepared to think about it for more than 30 seconds, hasn't increased because of the World Cup. There is no clear link between the two things whatsoever.

Indeed, judging from the statistics, it would equally be true to say 'Violence in Germany Surges Ahead of An English Blogger Mentioning Racial Violence'. I can, of course, assure you that I am no more the cause of increasing violence than is the World Cup Finals.

Racial violence is, of course, a worldwide problem. Ill-researched and badly thought through articles like this one don't really help. Unfortunately, they are a worldwide problem too.