A Tirania das Médias

O William Briggs nos brinda com mais um “causo” sobre a tirania das médias.

It might be that the average man grieves (say) 8 months after the death of his wife (one of Coontz’s example), but that doesn’t mean that a man who stops crying at 2 months is heard-hearted, nor that a man who wears sackcloth for two years is insane.

Using just the average to define “normal” in people is dangerously close to the fallacy of defining moral truths by vote. Come to think of it, isn’t that what the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does? Plus, even “extremes” might not be “abnormal” in the sense of undesirable or harmful; it all depends on the behavior and our understanding of biology and morality.