Anecdotes Are Not Facts: Tell That to the Left

 

Recently I had a conversation with a friend with whom I rarely have political conversations. They generally don’t end well. In this situation, I was able to make my point without ripping out my hair, but I’m sure my friend found our discussion deeply unsatisfying. I found, however, that I became much clearer about the mindset of the Left, to which she belongs, and although it was discouraging, it was revealing. What was that clarity?

The Left believes that anecdotes, particularly their personal experiences, can be generalized to life. And I don’t think there’s a way to talk them out of that belief, because it is central to their worldview.

I’m not sure how we veered into such dangerous territory, but we ended up focusing on the statement that “one in five women on college campuses are raped or will be raped.” It’s important to note that the word rape is the descriptive word we used. My friend said she believed this information was true; I did not.

I spent most of my explanation on the fact that there are endless ways to define the meaning of this statement. “Rape” morphs into sexual assault, which morphs into various kinds of interactions between the “victim” and the “perpetrator.” It’s an understatement to suggest that the premise of rape on college campuses has been used and abused, particularly by the feminist Left, who have repeatedly demonstrated their disdain, if not hatred, for men.

I discovered that my friend was not interested in data or facts. She was reaching her conclusion based on her own personal experiences. Over the years she was assaulted (not raped) by two different men; she even slapped one of them in response to his behavior. That means she was assaulted twice over many years. She also believed that society never believed that women were raped, and only believed the men. I pointed out the Brett Kavanaugh hearings where many on the Left believed the lies of the woman. (I didn’t ask my friend her beliefs about those hearings, because I was pretty sure she would side with the woman, and that would have been too much to bear.)

The way I tried to address her conclusions were (1) that I’m sure her personal experiences were traumatic and difficult; (2) that I didn’t think it was fair to draw conclusions about men in general from her two lifetime experiences, regardless of how horrible they were for her; (3) that data trumped anecdotes, especially when the analyses were complex and conflicting.

Yet based on her own experiences and her own “instincts,” she basically believed that most men were scum.

How was this information helpful to me?

First, I didn’t know about the two incidents in her own life which colored her perceptions. I realized that for many people, “Perception is reality”; and most of the time that conclusion is harmless. For example, if I have a handful of friends that tell me a restaurant is not very good, I may still try out the restaurant, but with reservations (pun intended!) Or if someone discourages me from reading a particular book, I may still read it because I have read other books by the author or have a special interest in the topic. My actions are not life-changing and have little impact, if any, on my view of the world.

But when anecdotes are involved, I assess them as “stories.” They will include perceptions, memories, preferences, biases, and a myriad of other factors. If I am serious about making an objective assessment, I will not only consider the anecdotes of others but make my own evaluation. An excellent example is my personal doctor/internist whom some women don’t like, but he and I get along fine and have had a great relationship for many years. I don’t try to talk them out of their experiences with him, nor do they try to criticize mine.

I believe that one of the biggest roadblocks we will encounter in bringing the Left to our way of thinking (never mind factors like confirmation bias, personal history, lack of critical thinking, and pressure to conform), will be their reliance on anecdotes. I’m convinced that they believe their personal experience is a valid substitute for facts. To challenge that mindset threatens their worldview, their very existence, and for the Left, it is simply not worth risking everything they might lose.

That may include the basis of who they think they are, and it would be too costly.

What can we do about the anecdotes that are so deeply woven into Leftist thinking?

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  1. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Sandy (View Comment):

    To deter ever so slightly, I wonder why so many parents of girls are willing to fork over a fortune, or the girls themselves willing to go into a lifetime of debt, to obtain a college degree from an institution that apparently also admits lots of rapists. One in five? Just an average, right? So some schools must be worse. Shouldn’t colleges have to state the risks in their catalogs? I wonder why no one calls child protective services on these parents.

    Not that posing such questions would matter. Anecdote trumps reason.

     

     

     

    And a 1 in 5 rape rate would make the average college campus have a higher rape rate than the streets of the most of the most dangerous cities in America. Really?

    Part of the problem, of course, is that the modern definition of rape includes “any sexual activity which the woman later regrets.” Maybe because he didn’t call the next day like he said he would, etc. Or in at least one case I remember, “any sexual activity which the woman doesn’t want her boyfriend to think she agreed to.”

    I’ve also seen some statistics that use the term “sexual assault” rather than “rape” and define “sexual assault” to include  somebody making a racy comment (which I believe is where the 1 in 5 (or sometimes even 1 in 4) data come from. But people inclined to believe the “rape culture” narrative hear “sexual assault” and mentally substitute “rape,” and repeat the conclusion using the wrong word. 

    • #31
  2. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Sandy (View Comment):

    To deter ever so slightly, I wonder why so many parents of girls are willing to fork over a fortune, or the girls themselves willing to go into a lifetime of debt, to obtain a college degree from an institution that apparently also admits lots of rapists. One in five? Just an average, right? So some schools must be worse. Shouldn’t colleges have to state the risks in their catalogs? I wonder why no one calls child protective services on these parents.

    Not that posing such questions would matter. Anecdote trumps reason.

     

     

     

    And a 1 in 5 rape rate would make the average college campus have a higher rape rate than the streets of the most of the most dangerous cities in America. Really?

    Part of the problem, of course, is that the modern definition of rape includes “any sexual activity which the woman later regrets.” Maybe because he didn’t call the next day like he said he would, etc. Or in at least one case I remember, “any sexual activity which the woman doesn’t want her boyfriend to think she agreed to.”

    I’ve also seen some statistics that use the term “sexual assault” rather than “rape” and define “sexual assault” to include somebody making a racy comment (which I believe is where the 1 in 5 (or sometimes even 1 in 4) data come from. But people inclined to believe the “rape culture” narrative hear “sexual assault” and mentally substitute “rape,” and repeat the conclusion using the wrong word.

    Right, that too.  Sometimes “sexual assault” seems to be just getting asked out by someone she doesn’t like.

     

    • #32
  3. Cassandro Coolidge
    Cassandro
    @Flicker

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Cassandro (View Comment):
    It’s interesting that the first example you give is not an anecdote but a statistic. The statistic is a narrative. It is a spurious intellectual framework off of which people draw from their life’s experiences to either deny or confirm the statistic.

    Point taken. I guess it would have made more sense to lead off with her anecdotes (the assaults) rather than the statistics, in order to show how she used her “anecdotes” to validate faulty data.

    Cassandro (View Comment):
    Today we have a godless, socialistic, pseudo-egalitarian, “Scientific”, nearly-nihilistic narrative that does not hold with reality, but nevertheless, people find examples in their own experience to support.

    They turn to their own experience because there is nothing else to back them up. It’s interesting, too–she is a Christian, but has modified her beliefs to create a sense of legitimacy. She leaves so much behind when she does.

    I wasn’t meaning to fault your presentation.  It was perfect.  It was thought provoking, too.  Keep up the thoughtfulness and the good work.  And thanks for the post.

    • #33
  4. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    If this statistic were true. What SANE parent would send a young woman to a college to get a 4 year degree? 

    • #34
  5. Cassandro Coolidge
    Cassandro
    @Flicker

    Franco (View Comment):
    Personally I prefer the old terms like “felt up” and the first-base, second base code. That was happening all along in campuses and there were no reports or complaints.

    Yes, the language is very important.  When I was relating the article to my wife, I automatically used the word accosted in place of words like “inappropriate touching” or “sexual assault” or “rape”.  These words, when I read them and try to figure out what happened prove to be utterly meaningless to me.

    And no matter how hard I try, I just can’t consider any untoward sexual advance, whether physical or verbal, to be automatically “assault”, especially if it is successfully repelled by slap.

    • #35
  6. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    No single person is “the norm”. And it doesn’t matter whether the thinking and observations are trenchant or absurd. I keep reminding Mrs Rodin of that (who is one sharp cooky) when she finds it difficult to understand why people can be so stupid. And therein lies an opportunity to point out to progressive individuals how their own experience can’t be generalized:”You are such an outstanding individual, wouldn’t you expect that few others would ….”

    The biggest logical fallacy is that our own unvalidated data can be relied upon. If you doubt this just think about what happens we observe something unexpected and hard to classify: “Did you see that?!” is our unplanned response to the phenomena. We only trust that which falls within our expectations.

    • #36
  7. She Member
    She
    @She

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    As Raxxalan suggests, narratives and anecdotes can be closely connected. The interesting questions to ask are, is there an “original source” to the held belief?

    I think the overarching narrative of the Left is one of group victimhood and oppression. And almost all their personal anecdotes support that narrative.  Children are taught from a very young age that they may be victims, even so far today as that they need to examine their gender identity very closely at the age of three or four to make sure that the grown-ups in their lives are not forcing them to be someone that their inner self doesn’t want to be–something that probably never crossed their mind before, but it doesn’t take long for the very attractive proposition of self-absorbtion and victimhood to take root.  As Mr. She was fond of saying, “victims need villains,” and so those who object to this narrative of inevitable victimhood and oppression, or who try to point out that–by and large–people are individuals with the power to make up their own minds and control their own lives without being forced into groupthink, must be the villains.  And from that point forward, it’s not possible to have a rational conversation.   

    Does a narrative become strengthened through the anecdote? When we are discussing issues one-on-one (as AMD Texas suggests), are we more likely to keep them engaged by referencing their personal anecdote or the general narrative?

    I think it’s a self-reinforcing, self-fulfilling prophecy.  Those who talk and act like victims in everything they do, become victims.  Just not of those they are calling their oppressors.  They’re victims of the Left’s delusions and of their own fantasy world, and they spend their lives circling a rather miserable drain.  Which probably explains why most of them look so unhappy and bitter.

    • #37
  8. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Sandy (View Comment):

    To deter ever so slightly, I wonder why so many parents of girls are willing to fork over a fortune, or the girls themselves willing to go into a lifetime of debt, to obtain a college degree from an institution that apparently also admits lots of rapists. One in five? Just an average, right? So some schools must be worse. Shouldn’t colleges have to state the risks in their catalogs? I wonder why no one calls child protective services on these parents.

    Not that posing such questions would matter. Anecdote trumps reason.

     

     

     

    Good question.  Why are women themselves going to college in droves if there really is a 20% change of being sexually assaulted?

    For that matter, shouldn’t public schools publish their crime statistics?

    • #38
  9. Eridemus Coolidge
    Eridemus
    @Eridemus

    Does a narrative become strengthened through the anecdote?

    There’s something else deeper: the re-formatting of the world through narrative and therefore both anecdotal and factual discouting of the strongholds of the “other side.” For example: how liberals accuse “White Supremacitsts” or (what they think are) garden variety “racists” for opposing socialism or BLM, while they are the force behind endless masking,  trans promotion, police defunding etc. (How many times have I read scornful characterizations of red voters as having “lower intelligence” for their concerns related to border control, federal debt, or free speech! )

    • #39
  10. Goldwaterwoman Thatcher
    Goldwaterwoman
    @goldwaterwoman

    Susan Quinn: What can we do about the anecdotes that are so deeply woven into Leftist thinking?

    Absolutely nothing. One of my closest friends is a hard-core lib, and I learned years ago to not discuss anything political with her as she is totally convinced selfish Republicans are only concerned about money whereas she is happy to be in the “Mommy” party. Her solutions to societal problems always start with government action or lack thereof, never personal responsibility.  We have many other interests in common, particularly our families and community, and she is a very intelligent, caring friend making the friendship worth keeping. Politics, however, is strictly off limits.

    • #40
  11. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Stad (View Comment):

    Sandy (View Comment):

    To deter ever so slightly, I wonder why so many parents of girls are willing to fork over a fortune, or the girls themselves willing to go into a lifetime of debt, to obtain a college degree from an institution that apparently also admits lots of rapists. One in five? Just an average, right? So some schools must be worse. Shouldn’t colleges have to state the risks in their catalogs? I wonder why no one calls child protective services on these parents.

    Not that posing such questions would matter. Anecdote trumps reason.

     

     

     

    Good question. Why are women themselves going to college in droves if there really is a 20% change of being sexually assaulted?

    For that matter, shouldn’t public schools publish their crime statistics?

    Seems like there are some reporting requirements in some states, at least.  Not sure about the federal level.  Maybe some requirement if they want to accept students with federally-backed funding?  And that would also help explain things like covering up sexual assaults by trannies in high schools:  if the schools admit the truth, they lose funding.

    • #41
  12. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Goldwaterwoman (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn: What can we do about the anecdotes that are so deeply woven into Leftist thinking?

    Absolutely nothing. One of my closest friends is a hard-core lib, and I learned years ago to not discuss anything political with her as she is totally convinced selfish Republicans are only concerned about money whereas she is happy to be in the “Mommy” party. Her solutions to societal problems always start with government action or lack thereof, never personal responsibility. We have many other interests in common, particularly our families and community, and she is a very intelligent, caring friend making the friendship worth keeping. Politics, however, is strictly off limits.

    Here is my pitch. What person has she known who beat poverty through a government program.

    My Grandaddy had big help from the Veterans bill in WWII but I think he would have finished his engineering degree a few years later after working very difficult jobs without the degree. 

    The Chinese and the Irish and other groups in America who haven’t been treated particularly well have succeeded because they accrued useful skills and habits that people paid for. 

    When has any group succeeded because of some big government program? Besides the politicians who shouldn’t count.

    • #42
  13. GlennAmurgis Coolidge
    GlennAmurgis
    @GlennAmurgis

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Why do so many Americans want to believe that campuses are rapey and that blacks are always treated unfairly. Why do we have such a desire to believe that we are bad?

    you can’t bring in socialism if people are happy with their life

     

    • #43
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