Why media literacy is important
Added 2023-05-09 11:55:36 +0000 UTCI felt like sharing this graph from Hannah Ritchie (Our World in Data). It is an interesting case study into media literacy and why it's so crucial.
I disagree with the toxic optimism in the conclusions and perspectives of Our World in Data and the people behind them. I don't think this graph should serve to spark joy in in the readers' minds.
Ritchie's article does point to a "single event" bias, which is important to avoid. However, data can be interpreted in many different ways too, and it's not as pure and unbiased as is often presented.
For example, this graph doesn't really show what's the reason behind each of those causes. Many of the real causes of deaths, such as heart diseases, road incidents, respiratory diseases, are directly correlated to the same factor. The hyper-individualized system of economics incentivizes companies to prioritize shareholder value over healthy food production. The billionaire and corporate lobby is responsible for much of the car-centric bad urban design, responsible for a lot of heart related and pollution-related issues. Many of these could have been significantly reduced if the selfish interest wasn't allowed to dictate public policies.
In short, there is much more that you can choose to NOT tell with data, than you can and do end up telling. Perspectives are always gonna be biased and that's what dictates what ends up on the graph and what doesn't.
