CQ does not count what counts
Letter to the Editor
Whit Waide
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Opinion
Whit Waide is a political science and public administration
instructor at Mississippi State. He can be contacted at wwaide@ps.msstate.edu.
I write in response to the page-one story from Friday's Reflector regarding Mississippi's unfortunate ranking by Congressional Quarterly magazine. CQ has determined that Mississippi is the least livable state in the nation. In so doing, CQ's wizards of quantification have found yet another way not only to beat a dead horse but also kick him while he's down. I hope that The Reflector might strive to use its pages, especially in the wake of Hurricane Foglesong, to highlight a few of our positives.
We in this world are rather fond of measurement and quantification. We like to prove things, to know the absolute truth about this or that. And there is, of course, great merit to that. But perhaps sometimes we need a gentle reminder that there are some things that cannot be measured. There are things that only seem. Mississippi is not a perfect place to live. It cannot be denied that we look bad on paper. Neither can we deny our horrible racist past. At one time there was pure ,sustained evil in Mississippi. But I like to think that we have loosed some of our albatrosses, and it's time we took some credit for it.
There is no way to quantify the friendliness of our people. There is no way to account for the fact that perhaps more so than any other state, we Mississippians have real and true bonds to one another, almost like a family, simply by virtue of having been raised here. There is no statistical data on the myriad stories that everybody seems to have about going on a trip to some far-off locale, and of all the people in the world, who should they see but a fellow from Bogue Chitto? And all he wanted to talk about was how bad he wanted to go home.
I realize that not everyone feels a part of the Mississippi community and that some are left behind, forgotten or simply not included. This is not unique to Mississippi, and of course there is always room for improvement in any aspect of life, and we must forever remember and strive to improve. But I think it offensive that the rest of the country sees us as we were and as the numbers paint us. The rest of the country will allow for no other perspective of us, despite faulting us for having had poor perspective in the past.
instructor at Mississippi State. He can be contacted at wwaide@ps.msstate.edu.
I write in response to the page-one story from Friday's Reflector regarding Mississippi's unfortunate ranking by Congressional Quarterly magazine. CQ has determined that Mississippi is the least livable state in the nation. In so doing, CQ's wizards of quantification have found yet another way not only to beat a dead horse but also kick him while he's down. I hope that The Reflector might strive to use its pages, especially in the wake of Hurricane Foglesong, to highlight a few of our positives.
We in this world are rather fond of measurement and quantification. We like to prove things, to know the absolute truth about this or that. And there is, of course, great merit to that. But perhaps sometimes we need a gentle reminder that there are some things that cannot be measured. There are things that only seem. Mississippi is not a perfect place to live. It cannot be denied that we look bad on paper. Neither can we deny our horrible racist past. At one time there was pure ,sustained evil in Mississippi. But I like to think that we have loosed some of our albatrosses, and it's time we took some credit for it.
There is no way to quantify the friendliness of our people. There is no way to account for the fact that perhaps more so than any other state, we Mississippians have real and true bonds to one another, almost like a family, simply by virtue of having been raised here. There is no statistical data on the myriad stories that everybody seems to have about going on a trip to some far-off locale, and of all the people in the world, who should they see but a fellow from Bogue Chitto? And all he wanted to talk about was how bad he wanted to go home.
I realize that not everyone feels a part of the Mississippi community and that some are left behind, forgotten or simply not included. This is not unique to Mississippi, and of course there is always room for improvement in any aspect of life, and we must forever remember and strive to improve. But I think it offensive that the rest of the country sees us as we were and as the numbers paint us. The rest of the country will allow for no other perspective of us, despite faulting us for having had poor perspective in the past.
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