One nation, seven sins

[Beorn]

One nation, seven sins (http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/mar/26/one-nation-seven-sins/)

Geographers measure propensity for evil in states, counties

The question of evil and where it lurks has been largely ignored by the scientific community, which is why a recently released study titled “The Spatial Distribution of the Seven Deadly Sins Within Nevada” is groundbreaking: Never before has a state’s fall from grace been so precisely graphed and plotted. Geographers from Kansas State University have used certain statistical measurements to quantify Nevada’s sins and come up with a county-by-county map purporting to show various degrees of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride in the Silver State. By culling statistics from nationwide databanks of things like sexually transmitted disease infection rates (lust) or killings per capita (wrath), the researchers came up with a sin index. This is a precision party trick — rigorous mapping of ridiculous data.

Their findings were presented Tuesday at the Association of American Geographers’ annual meeting at the Riviera, where Kansas State geography research associate Thomas Vought fielded questions while standing next to a poster of his research. Seven maps of Nevada, in seven different colors, for seven different sins.

The darker a county, the more evil it is.

Greed was calculated by comparing average incomes with the total number of inhabitants living beneath the poverty line. On this map, done in yellow, Clark County is bile (see map on Page 2).
Envy was calculated using the total number of thefts — robbery, burglary, larceny and stolen cars. Rendered in green, of course, Clark County is emerald.

Wrath was calculated by comparing the total number of violent crimes — murder, assault and rape — reported to the FBI per capita. Vought and his colleagues used the color red to illustrate wrath, so Clark County looks like a fresh welt. Washoe is slightly statistically duller. Everywhere else is a friendly pork pink.

Lust was calculated by compiling the number of sexually transmitted diseases — HIV, AIDS, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea — reported per capita. Here again, Clark and Washoe counties are worst. Carson City County is a close third.

Gluttony was calculated by counting the number of fast food restaurants per capita, and this is one category where Clark County is bested. First in deep fry goes to Carson City.

Sloth was calculated by comparing expenditures on arts, entertainment and recreation with the rate of employment. Here again Clark County is beat, scoring only average on the scale of sloth.

And pride, lastly, is most important. The root of all sins, in this study, is the aggregate of all data. Vought and his Kansas colleagues combined all data from the six other sins and averaged it into an overview of all evil. So pride, mapped in purple, shows the states two darkest bruises: counties Clark and Carson City.

Yet, in the grand scheme of things, maybe we’re not that bad. While Vought and his colleagues spent four weeks on the detailed Nevada study, they also ran the numbers on some 3,000 counties across the country, a nationwide survey of sin.
Turns out Nevada is unremarkable when compared with other states. Sure, we have a little discoloration around Washoe and Clark counties when it comes to wrath, and Southern Nevada as a whole stands out in the nationwide map of greed, but other than that, we’re almost colorless, boring even, when compared with Texas, which ranked high for gluttony, or wrath, which was concentrated in Florida and surrounding states.
Moreover, the Kansas geographers also compared the level of sin in 10 top casino markets, and while the Las Vegas Strip ranked first for greed, it could muster no better than third place for pride, the aggregate of all sins.

It was the southern gambling cities — Lula, Miss.; Biloxi, Miss.; and Shreveport, La., that came out on top of the bottom. Why, exactly, remains to be seen. The Kansas geographers started this project, it seems pretty clear, for the erudite amusement; something to stand out at a 6,000-person convention consumed with the world’s heavy questions. But if Tuesday’s convention crowd was evidence, the sin study was interesting to other scholars as well. So Vought and colleagues plan to continue their national study of evil.
“It’s too much fun,” Vought said, smiling in a way that suggested, if not pride, then a good deal of pleasure.


Seven Deadly Sins in Nevada

http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/NEVADA_Sloth_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48ff2084a5 42e308ea5e6a
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/NEVADA_Pride_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48ff2084a5 42e308ea5e6a
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/NEVADA_Lust_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48ff2084a54 2e308ea5e6a
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/NEVADA_Greed_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48ff2084a5 42e308ea5e6a
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/NEVADA_Gluttony_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48ff208 4a542e308ea5e6a
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/NEVADA_Wrath_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48ff2084a5 42e308ea5e6a
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/NEVADA_Envy_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48ff2084a54 2e308ea5e6a

Seven Deadly Sins Nationwide

http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/scaled.ENVYINDEX_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48ff20 84a542e308ea5e6a
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/scaled.GLUTTONYINDEX_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48 ff2084a542e308ea5e6a
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/scaled.GREEDINDEX-1_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48ff2084a542e308ea5e6 a
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/scaled.LUSTINDEX_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48ff20 84a542e308ea5e6a
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/scaled.PRIDEINDEX_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48ff2 084a542e308ea5e6a
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/scaled.SLOTHINDEX_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48ff2 084a542e308ea5e6a
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2009/03/25/scaled.WRATHINDEX_t429.jpg?c3ad3caf4ca1c692ac48ff2 084a542e308ea5e6a


Seven Deadly Sins Nationwide with "Hot Spots" (http://www.lasvegassun.com/photos/galleries/2009/mar/25/seven-deadly-sins-nationwide-hot-spots/)

Seven Deadly Sins Comparison (http://www.lasvegassun.com/photos/galleries/2009/mar/25/seven-deadly-sins-comparison/)

[SwordoftheVistula]

Interesting study concept, but very bad methodology:



Greed was calculated by comparing average incomes with the total number of inhabitants living beneath the poverty line.

This one might be ok...it seems to match up with this map:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wYOqE4H4V6U/R1WIudUn7aI/AAAAAAAAAIo/OtgqQIv5Ibg/s1600/jewish3.JPG

Can't help but think there must be a better methodology though.


Envy was calculated using the total number of thefts — robbery, burglary, larceny and stolen cars

This one's not too bad.



Wrath was calculated by comparing the total number of violent crimes — murder, assault and rape — reported to the FBI per capita.

Rape? That's not really a 'crime of wrath'. Murders and assaults are often done for money (robberies, drug deals gone bad, fights between gangs/organized crime, etc) and thus would more properly belong in the 'greed' or 'envy' category. To measure 'wrath' you'd have to take the domestic violence incidents and add in the barfights and other stupid fights over 'yo momma jokes' and stuff like that.



Lust was calculated by compiling the number of sexually transmitted diseases — HIV, AIDS, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea — reported per capita.

Like 'greed', not an entirely bad methodology, but I think there must be a better one. If statistics are or could be compiled on age of 1st sexual experience, average number of sexual partners, and/or marital infidelity, that would make a better methodology. Sexually transmitted diseases might more accurately measure stupidity as much as lust.



Gluttony was calculated by counting the number of fast food restaurants per capita

This one's dumb. Why not just use the number of obese or overweight people per capita? We already have that data.



Sloth was calculated by comparing expenditures on arts, entertainment and recreation with the rate of employment

Also stupid. Many people who spend a lot of money on arts, entertainment and recreation and work hard to get that money. I suspect this map matches closely with the one they have for 'greed' since they essentially measure the same thing, the number of people with lots of disposable income vs the number of poor people.

An accurate map for 'sloth' would simply measure the per capita rate of people on public assistance (welfare, including 'social security disability' etc)


And pride, lastly, is most important. The root of all sins, in this study, is the aggregate of all data. Vought and his Kansas colleagues combined all data from the six other sins and averaged it into an overview of all evil.

Lame, and a cop-out, because they couldn't think of any way to measure this. The only thing I can think of to measure this might perhaps be attendance at local professional and college sports events.