I think it’s important to clarify misinformation on the internet, especially with a lack of sources and the prevalence of “fake news” in today’s society. It’s very important to investigate statistics like these on a per capita basis, as population is obviously a massive bias. For example, when adjusted for population size, the US is:
22 in oil consumption per capita 4 in military spending 20 in firearm-related deaths
Additionally, according to a Gallup poll, the US is among the highest ranking countries in terms of percentage of population who perceive climate change as a human-caused threat.
This isn’t a political statement, just a fact. We, as a country, need to do much better. However, misinformation like this is dangerous, and one of the ways in which we need to do better is by making sure we know where our information is coming from. In a political climate as toxic as our current one, ignorance is our greatest enemy.
Edit: Formatting, and also I know this will get buried but let me know if you want to see sources.
Edit 2: It was irresponsible of me to post this without sharing sources in advance. I did not go to the effort because I truly expected nobody to see this. Here they are:
Draexor on August 24th, 2019 at 21:09 UTC »
I chuckled at #1 in drug prices
Bjumseskat on August 24th, 2019 at 22:25 UTC »
aint brazil number 1 in gun deaths? no matter what, theyre winning in homicides
Macker_ on August 25th, 2019 at 01:08 UTC »
I think it’s important to clarify misinformation on the internet, especially with a lack of sources and the prevalence of “fake news” in today’s society. It’s very important to investigate statistics like these on a per capita basis, as population is obviously a massive bias. For example, when adjusted for population size, the US is:
22 in oil consumption per capita 4 in military spending 20 in firearm-related deathsAdditionally, according to a Gallup poll, the US is among the highest ranking countries in terms of percentage of population who perceive climate change as a human-caused threat.
This isn’t a political statement, just a fact. We, as a country, need to do much better. However, misinformation like this is dangerous, and one of the ways in which we need to do better is by making sure we know where our information is coming from. In a political climate as toxic as our current one, ignorance is our greatest enemy.
Edit: Formatting, and also I know this will get buried but let me know if you want to see sources.
Edit 2: It was irresponsible of me to post this without sharing sources in advance. I did not go to the effort because I truly expected nobody to see this. Here they are:
Per capita oil consumption: https://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=91000
Per capita military spending: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-who-spend-the-most-on-military-per-capita.html
Per capita firearm-related deaths: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/theres-a-new-global-ranking-of-gun-deaths-heres-where-the-u-s-stands
Gallup Climate Change Poll (Gallup has an abundance of data - not all of it is contained in this article, and I encourage you to peruse their data if interested). https://news.gallup.com/poll/248027/americans-concerned-ever-global-warming.aspx
Bonus - US is also 11 in per capita mass shootings by death toll and 12 by frequency: https://fee.org/articles/the-myth-that-the-us-leads-the-world-in-mass-shootings/
Double Bonus - an extremely interesting podcast from Data Skeptic on modeling the spread and effect of fake news using communication theory: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/data-skeptic-podcast/the-data-skeptic-podcast/e/56802225?autoplay=true