
Obese politicians signal corruption, study finds - ktln2
https://eurasianet.org/obese-politicians-signal-corruption-study-finds
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cosmodisk
In Lithuania we often call them 'beavers'\- a standard picture of a man in his
mid 50s, fat as hell and equally corrupt. At least we are having fewer and
fewer of these. However,these occasionally get replaced by the other type- the
'slick ones'. Men in their mid 30s early 40s, outspoken, well looking and
equally full of shit.

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raincom
In other words, body weight is irrelevant:)

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roganp
Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men and such as sleep
a-nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much. Such
men are dangerous.

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jaboutboul
I’m calling bullshit on this one. Is this not just basically profiling?

Some of the methods here sound especially troubling and while we all can enjoy
a laugh at the expense of Soviet-wannabe dictators, how is this any different
than saying some blanket physical attribute is correlated to some negative
behavior or crime, etc?

I’m sure there are skinny leaders who are equally as corrupt. Maybe the skinny
ones are even more corrupt and are just more able to afford personal trainers?

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mmastrac
More accurate title: Obese post-Soviet politicians correlate with corruption.

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Simulacra
have you seen Jerold Nadler?

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gringoDan
N = 299. Not sure how meaningful those results are.

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Someone1234
N is 15, not 299.

This is comparing one measure for each of the 15 countries against three other
measures (cabinet minister's average obesity Vs. Transparency International
Corruption Perceptions Index, World Bank worldwide governance indicator
Control of Corruption, and Index of Public Integrity).

The 299 is the combined number of cabinet ministers whose weight were
averaged, which is a single measure per location, not the actual subject of
the statistical question (which is a country, not an individual cabinet
minister).

It also isn't in a peer reviewed journal at all.

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teej
N = 15 is a lot larger than you think when the highest possible N is ~200.

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Someone1234
If the available sample is too small, some questions may not be answerable via
statistical means, at least with any high degree of confidence.

This one may not be answerable via this methodology. Even if you did all 200
countries, there just may not be enough high quality data to reach a
satisfactory conclusion.

I'm not even saying the conclusion is wrong, I am saying the data doesn't
exist to determine if it is right OR wrong.

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mimined
Such an interesting header and such a disappointing content! I grew up in
Latvia and, trust me, the levels of corruption in Latvia are astonishing and
are only limited by a relatively small budget. Yet, people are generally quite
slim, and the biggest politicians are mostly sleek, tall and quite good
looking.

This study needs a LOT more insight. It basically says that there is
correlation with the exception of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and sometimes
Ukraine. Well, that's basically all the Western/European post-USSR space,
which is a lot, so it diminishes the entire thesis.

Also, countries like Tajikistan were affected by starvation after the WW2 a
lot more than the Baltic States, which this study doesn't mention. Several
years ago Ukraine were commemorating people who have been through Holodomor,
which was also a period of severe starvation in Ukrainian SSR imposed by the
collectivism after the WW2, and I remember seeing this guy receiving a medal
for it... The guy was morbidly obese. So, in my opinion, it would be useful to
look into the correlation of financial struggle in the USSR era and the modern
attitude towards food and things that were not easily obtainable back in the
USSR.

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simonblack
Hmmm. Wonder what's up with Pompeo??

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yters
If all politicians are corrupt this would also be true.

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1-6
Fat shaming?

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curious_fella1
Science is not interested in political correctness.

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lota-putty
Body keeps score...

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rsynnott
In other news:

> "'I was too fat' Boris Johnson says we must lose weight to fight
> Coronavirus"

Perhaps the new svelter Boris will have the side benefit of reducing Tory
expenses scandals.

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DC-3
Expenses scandals are a pointless distraction. The lowest hanging fruit of
corruption in the UK is the stuffing of the House of Lords.

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rsynnott
But expenses scandals result in public perception of corruption (which is what
the study's about), so logically, based on this definitely real and very
sensible study, thinner PMs should lead to fewer of them!

