Monday, July 10, 2017

WAPO Reports A Non-Story About a Phony Non-Study


Female-named Hurricanes Kill More Than Male Hurricanes
 Because People Don’t Respect Them

This is actually a news item in the once respected Washington Post, and probably the stupidest thing you will read all day.  According to the Post, a university research study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, claims people don’t take hurricanes as seriously if they have a feminine name and the consequences are more deadly. Yeah, you read that right.
"Researchers at the University of Illinois and Arizona State University examined six decades of hurricane death rates according to gender from 1950 and 2012. Of the 47 most damaging hurricanes, the female-named hurricanes produced an average of 45 deaths compared to 23 deaths in male-named storms, or almost double the number of fatalities." 
The article goes on to clearly state "The study excluded hurricanes Katrina and Audrey, outlier storms that would skew the model.

Oh, so they exclude two of the most destructive and deadly hurricanes to ever hit the Gulf coast? Well well. Could it be that if they didn't exclude them, their groundbreaking political correct phony gender equality pushing study would come off sounding even more ridiculous, seeing the authors of the study fail to explain what makes the findings sound even remotely legitimate since storms weren't even given male names until 1979! 
"The difference in death rates between genders was even more pronounced when comparing strongly masculine names versus strongly feminine ones. “[Our] model suggests that changing a severe hurricane’s name from Charley … to Eloise … could nearly triple its death toll,” the study says. “People imagining a ‘female’ hurricane were not as willing to seek shelter. “The stereotypes that underlie these judgments are subtle and not necessarily hostile toward women – they may involve viewing women as warmer and less aggressive than men.”
Ladies and gentlemen, after only the short time I have lived in Louisiana we have experienced 3 direct hits of major hurricanes.  A cat 5 and two Cat 3's. And I can assure you I heard no one, not one say "aw it's just one of them female storms, not to worry.  No, even before the first outer rain bands reach the coast, for most it's load the mule and make haste. But the world is abundant with stupid people and this study just re-enforced the fact. Some choose not to run and pay the price. The ignorance determines the death toll, NOT A FRIGGIN' NAME! 

This study is just some college researchers advancing a feminist agenda, justifying their position and grant money by tweaking stats to their advantage. (sound familiar?) And it's an ideal story to forward WAPO's agenda and advance the left's newest "Cause Celeb" of Gender Inequity, which hypocritically ignores "Accomplishment & Merit" just as the researchers conveniently ignored the fact some people are just too damn stupid to get out of the rain. 
Thank You MJA for the Linkage!