Geralyn says: I just got a lovely encouraging message.
You know the saying about lies, damned lies and statistics?
Well, back when we were discussing how minorities and -- our
gender, the majority-- are represented on TV, somebody referred
us to the statistics on the Fund for Women Artists web site.
I went to the site, and a key statistic posted there rang my
warning bell: this can't be accurate, my numerical poo-detector
said. (That minorities now form the majority in the US.)
These things happen all the time-- they drive me crazy. I'm
not surprised that that nobody complained about the fakery in
the NYTimes-- the Boston Globe published an article last week
that stated the average yearly disposable income in Massachusetts
was $79,000! How could anybody accept such a number? But decimal
points are misplaced all the time, millions, billions, who's
counting? No complaints, no corrections--- apparently we're
not expected to pay attention to what we read, it's just chewing
gum for the eyes. That's how the Bushies can get away with vodoo
economics and phantom WMDs.
Anyway, I sent off a polite note questioning the statistic
and asking its source. No reply-- until today! The Fund for
Women Artists does care!
Dear Geralyn,
Last month you wrote us about statistics on the "Myths to
Watch Out For" page on our web site. I'm sorry it's taken
us so long to get back to you. We've been traveling and such.
But I appreciate you contacting us - it gave us the nudge
to look up the numbers ourselves. (The original number came
from a George Gerbner study from the early 90s about the representation
of women and people of color on TV.)
I went to the US Census web site and looked at their projections.
They're now saying that they anticipate people of color will
become the majority in the U.S. in 2060. So we have updated
our page to reflect that. Many thanks again for bringing this
to our attention.
Best wishes,
Sarah Browning, Associate Director, The Fund for Women Artists
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