{"id":320,"date":"2025-05-01T11:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T11:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calexis.com\/?p=320"},"modified":"2026-02-26T20:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:11:09","slug":"the-yao-ming-argument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calexis.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/01\/the-yao-ming-argument\/","title":{"rendered":"The Yao Ming Argument"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Often we hear arguments that ring sort of true when they otherwise should not. Some of these I call\u00a0The Yao Ming<\/a> Argument.<\/em> It is when you take an exception and make it seem like the normal, the average.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Yao and others walk into a Conference (all are standing)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For example, as the US struggles with its messed up healthcare system, people continually point out to me that the US has world class, even leading medical capabilities and facilities.  People come from all over the world to use them.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is true; but having exceptional capability does not mean the system works for people who may really need it.\u00a0That\u2019s the Yao Ming fantasy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have seen Yao Ming? He is Chinese.\u00a0He is well over 7 feet tall.\u00a0Should we conclude, therefore, all Chinese must be at least 7 feet tall?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the distillation of this kind of argument. An exception doesn’t proves the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People offer these arguments all the time.\u00a0The media is tuned to exploit exceptional events: shootings, infidelities, entertainers or athletes who are themselves exceptions, outliers. We become very familiar with these exceptions. We start to think they are normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because an exception is true, doesn\u2019t make it representative of the average or the normal.\u00a0They are\u00a0exceptions<\/u><\/strong>. They are not typical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when one criticizes the education system, one should not cite Harvard or MIT as being representative and therefore say \u201cno problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, we seem to have more information about the exceptions than we do about the mundane.  Mundane just isn\u2019t news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mass media news is particularly susceptible to this when they continue to strive for \u201cAmerican Exceptionalism\u201d by pointing out every achievement of a US citizen. They do not equally cover exceptional international people or events elsewhere in the world. Or the mundane everyday failures.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This leads people to believe that the items presented are typical. They are not; they may be true but not typical. There are always many, many more mundane people and events that do not make the news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This leads many US citizens to believe that their country is, essentially, the Yao Ming of countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too often we use facts we are aware of through the media and represent them as being typical or a group we are trying to understand.\u00a0For every Muslim that is a terrorist, there are 30 million Muslims struggling along in their normal life.\u00a0For every police officer who wantonly fires their gun, there are thousands who are well trained and do an excellent job without resorting to their gun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Yao Ming argument persists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When someone supports their assertion by referencing an exceptional, or even outstanding, person or occurrence, just remember that all Chinese are not over 7 feet tall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Often we hear arguments that ring sort of true when they otherwise should not. Some of these I call\u00a0The Yao Ming Argument. It is when you take an exception and make it seem like the normal, the average. For example, as the US struggles with its messed up healthcare system, people continually point out to\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,5,4],"tags":[65,67,66,64],"class_list":["post-320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advertising","category-life","category-media","category-politics","tag-outliers","tag-projection","tag-sampling","tag-superlatives"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Yao Ming Argument - Calexis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/calexis.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/01\/the-yao-ming-argument\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Yao Ming Argument - Calexis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Often we hear arguments that ring sort of true when they otherwise should not. 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