The Troubadour Podcast
"It is the honourable characteristic of Poetry that its materials are to be found in every subject which can interest the human mind." William Wordsworth The Troubadour Podcast invites you into a world where art is conversation and conversation is art. The conversations on this show will be with some living people and some dead writers of our past. I aim to make both equally entertaining and educational.In 1798 William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge published Lyrical Ballads, which Wordsworth called an experiment to discover how far the language of everyday conversation is adapted to the purpose of poetic pleasure. With this publication, he set in motion the formal movement called "Romanticism." 220 years later the experiment is continued on this podcast. This podcast seeks to reach those of us who wish to improve our inner world, increase our stores of happiness, and yet not succumb to the mystical or the subjective.Here, in this place of the imagination, you will find many conversation with those humans creating things that interest the human mind.
The Troubadour Podcast
Why I Distrust "Studies" Used in Arguments and Articles
If we've ever had a conversation, or if you've ever heard me have a conversation, you may notice that I will not accept as an argument a "study" you cited. I've even been made fun of for saying that I don't trust "stats." (Yes I'm using scare quotes on purpose).
The reason for this is simple. Stat and studies and research papers may be well done. Just as easily they may be inaccurate, false, misleading and untruthful. Creating a truthful and rigorous scientific study is complex and difficult. Darwin dedicated his entire life to not only proving his own theory but DISPROVING his own theory. He wanted to make sure he was correct.
Throwing out a "study" that "proves" your case is inappropriate and destructive.
In this podcast (originally a video on my youtube channel) I dig into a particularly pernicious study done by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) about rape and sexual assault. Their study, the National Crime Victimization Survey is quoted and used as evidence for such claims that the vast majority (63% or more) of women do not report rapes and that only 2-10% of rape accusations are false.
Find out what this source actually says and how to be cautious of accepting magic words like "studies," "Stats," or even "science."
Here are the urls for all the websites that I refer to in this episode. It may be useful to go to my youtube page and watch the video. There I show the articles as well as talk about them. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdmjldJNAsOzI50kfzOHyLA
Dr. Ben Bayer, The Sniff Test:
https://medium.com/@benbayer_62236/the-sniff-test-cb5727f319a6
Washington post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/false-accusations-of-rape-which-are-rare-should-not-be-the-priority/2018/10/05/969910ce-c820-11e8-9c0f-2ffaf6d422aa_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3e03c579b678
NSVRC overview: https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/Publications_NSVRC_Overview_False-Reporting.pdf
BJS Review:
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsarp00.pdf
The Cut Article: https://www.thecut.com/article/false-rape-accusations.html
NCVS Report 2015 https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv15.pdf
NCRVS About page: https://www.nsvrc.org/about/national-sexual-violence-resource-center
National Academies report https://www.nap.edu/read/18605/chapter/11