Today one of my students had a reading assignment which told the story of a surfer who had lost an arm in a shark attack. A sidebar said, "Weird but true: More people are killed every year by soda machines than by sharks!"
Tonight, approximately five hours after reading the shark vs. vending machine comparison, I did a bit of random browsing on YouTube and ended up watching a Leather Apron Club video called "Why You Can't Get Anyone to Change Their Mind." Near the end, I heard this:
Okay, so in example one, imagine that a child want to convince his parents to take him to the carnival that's in town, but they're concerned about the safety of the rides. So an a posteriori argument from the kid might sound something like this: "I want to go to the carnival. The rides are actually totally safe. I've read a research paper saying how more people actually die from shark bites than get killed on carnival rides every year."
What are the odds? I bet more people are killed by drinking too much soda at carnivals than run into two unrelated shark attack comparisons in a five-hour period.
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