Defending Common Sense

One of the many reasons why no one is ever likely to confuse me with a scholar of any sort is a stubborn refusal and a deliberate decision made many years ago not to cite statistics (at least not very many) in support of my own arguments

– a conscious act of omission and a mildly perverse form of modern heresy that some will likely find refreshing and others will just as likely find downright appalling. “There are three kinds of lies,” said Mark Twain: “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” In the Great Age of Mediation statistics and metrics less frequently describe what works and more frequently describe what can be sold, for how much and to whom. We tend to use them as a form of modern numerology to support all manner of things both savory and unsavory, a disturbingly common practice that almost always compromises and sacrifices the truth along the way.  By contrast, my arguments about both addiction and media – although researched and refined over many years – are forged largely in common sense tempered by three decades of personal and professional experience as both an addict and a recognized digital media pioneer. Common sense, I assert, should start the discussion and prevail in the end.