Enough with the distortion already!

[mithriltabby]

Will the mass media please shut up about the following topics?

1. Bush’s “mandate”. A 51% win is not a mandate. A 51% win is barely squeaking in.
2. “Red states” and “blue states”. As the map shows, no state voted 100% Republican or 100% Democrat. The red/blue thing is just an artifact of the electoral system. It’s just as silly to talk about “male states” and “female states” based on the percentage of population of a given gender.

Comments

[sandpanther.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on this stupid "mandate" thing.

I have to disagree on the electoral college thing. It's the system that we are operating under, and as such, the results do Mean Something. I'm not arguing right or wrong, I'm just stating the current reality.

[mithriltabby]

It’s the way that people are talking about the states being homogeneous that bugs me. The notion that all people in “red states” or “blue states” are a certain way is prevalent in the rhetoric from both left and right.

[sandpanther.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see your point. It would be nice if the generalizations were a little less black-and-white. The news media really does need to remember that there is something between black and white, and that most people fall into that category.

County by county

[mithriltabby]

[mithriltabby]

Cartogram of the purple county-by-county

[mithriltabby]

Re: Cartogram of the purple county-by-county

[mithriltabby]

A slightly updated version of the page referenced in the previous post.