Lies, damn lies, and statistics

As Harry Frankfort usefully pointed out in his book On Bullshit, bullshitting is not precisely the same thing as lying, which involves self-consciously peddling known falsehoods. The key feature of genuine bullshit is complete indifference about whether statements (or claims or insinuations) are true or false.

What does that have to do with statistics?  Here's the word from Dilbert (via Paul Canning at Harry's Place).  —Jeff Weintraub



=> For a follow-up, see here.