Hilarious Academic Understatements

"Australian youth in the sample study revealed in the focus group that joining a political party was not on their top priorities. They also reflected cultural expectations that politicians were to be mocked and ridiculed, as if they were unimportant, un-appreciated public figures in society that the media portrayed as constantly disappointing them."

- Constructing Citizenship: Comparing the Views of Students in Australia, America and Hong Kong.

I love when academia gets suspiciously like a Terry Pratchett footnote.

I'll try and find some more pearlers in the research I'm doing.

"The above proposition is occasionally useful."
—Principia Mathematica, on proving that 1+1=2.

edited 3rd Jul '11 5:56:12 PM by Glidergun

Sounds more like a swipe at our pollies than something silly from academia.

edited 4th Jul '11 7:00:25 PM by Evellex

I bet that at some point Newton or Galileo or some other scientist from the past said "Objects with mass tend to move downwards if not held in place" and people would go "you don't say".

That's what academia is kinda for. Stating the obvious, showing whether it's true and to what degree (sometimes the obvious turns out to not be true) and then coming up with some sort of explanation.

Huh? Sounds like a common, and intelligent, view of politicians to me. No surprises, really.

edited 4th Jul '11 10:47:11 PM by Wolf1066

"NASA Admits Sun Plays Significant Role in Global Warming"

That sounds like a poorly worded or misleading title rather than an understatement, since "global warming" is commonly understood to mean modern-day, anthropogenic climate change, and not just any warming of the Earth.

edited 4th Jul '11 10:52:01 PM by Enthryn

Such as the greenhouse effect.