This is not so much a story/article, as it is an observation. Please, let me know if you agree or disagree.
I've noticed that the News24 polls are very often superficial and biased
towards the answer that the person who drafted them wants. In other
words, they ask 'leading questions', in the sense that one is often presented
with two obvious (and indistinguishable) options and one ludicrous
polar opposite.
Take today's, for example. Asked about the Selebi Appeal Judgment, you're presented with: (a) the Judicial System is lekker; (b) okes can't escape the law; and (c) Selebi was a great guy - the judgment is wrong.
Now, firstly, are (a) and (b), both of which are OBVIOUSLY gonna appeal to the masses, really asking anything different? If the judicial system works, does that not imply that nobody escapes justice and vice versa? Obviously, there are minor academic differences, but, fundamentally, is anything different REALLY being asked? Then, there's (c). Do the drafters of this poll really think that some revelation is going to be exposed by its inclusion? OBVIOUSLY, the only people who're going to click on it are regular kak-stirring trollers and people who've been living in caves for the past few years.
Why not, using this 'formula', ask the following:
When you die, do you want to: (a) spend eternity in paradise; (b) spend eternity doing everything that you love; or (c) spend eternity burning in pits of lava. The kind of 'revelations', that the 'statistics' will provide, will probably be along the same lines as with today's poll.
Ultimately, I don't really care, beyond feeling the need to ask if anyone has noticed this too, but, I do wonder if the people who come up with these polls actually think they provide insight, or whether some back-office website moderator just spurts them out in less than two minutes, so that we can all play clicky-clicky and feel like we've been democratic.
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