WHEN Bill O’Reilly doubled down on his mockery of Malaysia—scoffing that Malaysians “can’t even buy a little hat” and citing a household income figure of US$5,731 versus US$42,220 in the US—he wasn’t just being flippant. He was showcasing the danger of lazy statistics. By cherry-picking figures without context, he painted a distorted picture of economic despair—and in doing so, revealed a worldview still steeped in colonialist condescension. Like many such soundbites, the truth lies in what he left out.
A single number doesn’t define prosperity
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