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there's a lot of issues with this Tucker Carlson segment, but one claim stuck out to a friend of mine: according to Tucker, 64% of self-classified "liberal" White Americans have a diagnosed mental health condition.
As far as I can tell, this statistic is 100% incorrect.
(thread) https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1386837979453399049
As far as I can tell, this statistic is 100% incorrect.
(thread) https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1386837979453399049
The number comes from a Pew Research Center dataset, produced in late March 2020. ( https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/dataset/american-trends-panel-wave-64/)
Pew provides an online report and the full, extremely dense dataset. Unfortunately, their report didn't mention Tucker's points, so we have to look at the dataset.
Pew provides an online report and the full, extremely dense dataset. Unfortunately, their report didn't mention Tucker's points, so we have to look at the dataset.
(Disclaimer: I'm not a data scientist or psychologist, just a computer nerd. This was my first experience using R and statistical analysis software in general. If someone who knows this stuff disproves my conclusions here, you should probably listen to them)
If we load Pew's data, filter for White respondents, and apply Pew's weights, we get a table with two important percentage values: 26.4% "Liberal" respondents with a mental health condition, and 38.0% "Very liberal".
Add those together and you get 64.4%! So was Tucker right?
Add those together and you get 64.4%! So was Tucker right?
...Not even close. That's 26.4% of "Liberal"-identifying respondents - NOT all respondents - and 38% of "Very liberal"-identifying ones. You can't add them together like that, because with the way our data's represented, they're not parts of the same whole.
If we filter from our White respondents for "Liberal" and "Very liberal", and display that group's results, we get a whopping...
30% of liberal respondents with mental health conditions.
Which (through a cursory Google) seems to align with the national average, if a little high.
30% of liberal respondents with mental health conditions.
Which (through a cursory Google) seems to align with the national average, if a little high.
(FYI: The rate for White conservatives was 12%, with an overall rate of 17%. I think this difference could be chalked up to divergent attitudes about mental health - liberals might be more likely to see a professional of their own volition - but that's out of this thread's scope)
Obviously, the percentage being wrong isn't the biggest issue with Tucker's arguments.
Even if the 64% number was true, this survey would still include an untold number of people with ADHD, depression, anxiety - common conditions that go unnoticed and only harm those affected.
Even if the 64% number was true, this survey would still include an untold number of people with ADHD, depression, anxiety - common conditions that go unnoticed and only harm those affected.
Lukewarm takes incoming:
People, and their opinions and concerns, are worth the same whether or not they have mental health issues.
Calling people who continue to use masks mentally ill and "neurotic" - dogwhistling for "dangerous" - is incorrect, disgusting, and harms EVERYONE.
People, and their opinions and concerns, are worth the same whether or not they have mental health issues.
Calling people who continue to use masks mentally ill and "neurotic" - dogwhistling for "dangerous" - is incorrect, disgusting, and harms EVERYONE.
Not big on deplatforming, but I have to question why Tucker Carlson is still regularly speaking on national television.
All I can do right now is hope and pray that maybe, someday, he (somehow) makes amends for being an ass.
All I can do right now is hope and pray that maybe, someday, he (somehow) makes amends for being an ass.
