In an earlier post I noted how an article on crime statistics for 2014, including a 40% drop in murders for a Springfield, didn’t mention the city in the headline and took great pains to minimize that the number of homicides had plummeted in the City of Homes. I expressed a certain amount of sympathy with the nuanced approach, but I predicted that that nuanced approach would be jettisoned if the number increased the following year.
I didn’t have to wait long!
So a 40% drop warrants no mention in the headline and all the detail of a real estate contract’s small print as a disclaimer regarding the decrease.
A 29% increase gets a headline, no disclaimer.
I’m Nostra-fucking-damus.