Your Opinion: Comparison yields flawed conclusion

Dear Editor:

I've been reading the letters concerning Mississippi and Massachusetts. I've noticed that except for one, most letters focus on political ideology and ignore two of the largest variables, which are environment and individuals.

Doing a little research I found that both states have vastly different environments. Mississippi has large swamps, filled with toxic plants, dangerous animals and disease-carrying insects. Increased moisture levels mean increases in molds, bacteria and pollens. Mississippi has more farms, which means working around heavy equipment, meaning more severe injuries and exposures to dust and other contaminates. Where Massachusetts doesn't have these things and so health is better.

Then there are the people and what they value and need. In Massachusetts it is advantageous to have a degree through higher education, to become a lawyer, engineer etc. Where in the swamps of Mississippi being a lawyer might be of less value than let's say knowing the difference between snakes, where alligators hide, different plants, mushrooms, how to fish and navigate the swamps etc. The environments also shape the political ideology as much as the ideology shape the environment.

The people in Mississippi value someone that can take care of themselves, because in the swamp or rural environment you cannot count on someone else being there, like ambulances, police etc. Where in Massachusetts you can pick up a phone dial 911 and in minutes have help. So while data and statistics are helpful one must be careful of the conclusions one makes from that data. Through statistics I can prove that 100 percent of the people that have consumed water throughout history have died, showing a clear statistical link between water and death. Statistics have also shown a correlation between the decline in storks and a decline in child births, indicating a link and providing statistical evidence to suggest that storks do indeed bring babies.

Should I believe any of it? No, because even though the data is accurate it is the conclusion that is flawed and other data including life experience proves otherwise. So when choosing for our state which ideology is correct, we must take a look at the environment and people of our state and then make decisions based on that information, not on what Massachusetts or Mississippi do.