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Census Quotes

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Census Quotes

“Considering the Scottish census through these theoretical lenses, where the census is not a neutral representation of a reality but a tool to construct a governable population, raises questions as to whether the census is an exercise in knowledge construction or a tool to bolster the state’s capacity to manage its population. These two objectives are not exclusive: improved knowledge likely facilitates the design of more efficient ways to coerce, control and discipline people who live within a state's jurisdiction. However, if the construction of knowledge is no longer the primary purpose of a census, this throws into doubt then need for a census to collect accurate information that authentically represents the lives and experiences of the people about whom the data relates.”

DataCensusQueer Theory
Book:Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action
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“The political reputation of Servius rests upon his organization of society according to a fixed scale of rank and fortune. He originated the census, a measure of the highest utility to a state destined, as Rome was, to future preeminence; for by means of its public service, in peace as well as in war, could thence forward be regularly organized on the basis of property; every man's contribution could be in proportion to his means.”

LawHistoryPolicyPolitical ScienceCensus
Book:The History of Rome, Books 1-5: The Early History of Rome
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“Although the designs of the trans and gender identity questions in the Scottish, English and Welsh census differ, they both attempt to navigate the same ambition: avoid use of the term ‘cis’. Other census questions, related to Identity characteristics, ask respondents to select the option to which they most closely identify. Questions require respondents to confirm an identity (for example, ‘I am white Scottish’) rather than negate an identity (for example, ‘I am not Scottish Indian’). The design of the trans and gender identity questions depart from this approach are they require the majority of respondents (those who identify as cis, estimated to be around 99 per cent of the population) to answer the way that negates and identity (‘I am not trans’). Ashley has noted how, in English, ‘currently, no word exists in our vocabulary for the broad category which includes being trans and being cis”

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Book:Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action
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“Not very long ago some one invented the assertion that there were only "Four Hundred" people in New York City who were really worth noticing. But a wiser man has arisen - the census taker - and his larger estimate of human interest has been preferred in marking out the field of these little stories of the "Four Million.”

PeopleMenHumansLittlesLongHas BeensStoriesInterestCitiesMillionsFourNew YorkFieldsHundredNew York CityLong AgoWiserAssertionNoticingCensus
Book:The Complete Poetry of O. Henry (Including a Biography of the Author): From the American writer, a master of short stories, known for The Gift of the Magi, Cabbages and Kings, The Cop and the Anthem, Options, Roads of Destiny, The Four Million…
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“I had been hearing on-the-ground buzz that white folks were moving to places like Bend, Oregon, and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and St. George, Utah. That led me to discover through census data that these towns were already extremely white and they were becoming, in most cases, even whiter. Statistics could only tell me so much; in order to get to the spirit and essence of it, I had to immerse myself.”

MovingSpiritOrderWhiteCasesBecomingEssenceTownsFolksHearingDataStatisticsBuzzOregonUtahIdahoCensus
Author:Richard Benjamin
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“The first presidential veto, by George Washington, was a veto of Alexander Hamilton's formula for apportioning the House, and the one that Washington preferred was one that Thomas Jefferson produced, and that was one partisan issue. The apportionment formula that Jefferson produced gave an extra seat to Virginia. Everybody knew what that game was. Look, partisan interest in the census is simply nothing new.”

FirstsLooksGamesHouseInterestIssuesPresidentialExtrasSeatsFormulasVirginiaPartisansNothing NewHamiltonVetoCensus
Author:Kenneth Prewitt
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“The actual assertion that the Census Bureau could behave in such a way as to tilt things one way or the other way in the partisan sense, is, on the face of it, a silly charge. It's the same Census Bureau that's considered to be incompetent by some people, and then some of the same people are saying that this incompetent agency is so clever and so Machiavellian that it can design a census for partisan reasons.”

PeopleWayReasonFacesDesignSillyCleverOne WayBehaveAgencyAssertionPartisansIncompetentTiltCensusCensus Bureau
Author:Kenneth Prewitt
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“I carry in my datebook a piece of paper that my mother copied out for me, from the 1840 Census. Hardy Callaway Culver of Hancock County, Georgia, had 42 slaves, 31 "employed in agriculture." Culver was my great-great-great grandfather. I carry this piece of paper with me every day because I don't want to forget. I don't know what to do with the information, but I don't want to forget it.”

KnowsWantMotherForgetPiecesInformationPaperSlaveGrandfatherAgricultureEmployedForget ItCountyGeorgiaHardyCensusGreat Grandfather
Author:Laura Lippman
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“There are two economic realities in America today. There's been a record six straight years of job growth, and new census numbers show incomes have increased at a record rate after years of stagnation. However, income inequality remains significant, and nearly half of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.”

YearsTwoShowsRealityTodayJobsAmericaGrowthNumbersHalfRecordsEconomicSixRemainsRateSignificantIncomeInequalityPaychecksStagnationIncome InequalityAmerica TodayCensusJob Growth
Author:Lester Holt
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“America's demographic shift was obvious to everyone in the 2010 Census - but Republicans stubbornly rejected math, facts, and polls to their electoral peril. While Republicans tailored their platform by and for the pale stale and male, among us, Obama and Democrats are embracing America's diverse mosaic.”

FactsAmericaRepublicanDemocratMalesObviousMathPlatformsDiversePaleRejectedPollsPerilDemographicsStaleMosaicsCensusTailoredElectoral Process
Author:Christine Pelosi
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“Whole communities are growing up without fathers or male role models. Bringing up a family in the best of circumstances is not easy. To try to do it by placing the entire burden on women - 91% of single-parent families in Britain are headed by the mother, according to census data - is practically absurd and morally indefensible.”

TryingWholeMotherFatherEasyParentCommunityRolesGrowing UpGrowingCircumstancesModelsMalesBurdenAbsurdDataBritainRole ModelsSingle ParentCensusMale Role Models
Author:Jonathan Sacks
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“I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti”

FilmNiceHorrorScaryAll TimeCinemaClassicMovieVillainHelloBeansLambsInstituteLiverIconicSinisterGreat AmericanHorror FilmAll The BestImprovisingGreat FilmBig MovieAmerican MovieAmerican FilmCensusBest FilmGreat YearInstitutesScary HalloweenGreatest MovieAll Time Best MovieAll Time BestFilms And MoviesMemorable MovieZombie MovieAll Time GreatestClassic FilmsQuoting MoviesIconic MovieMovie LinesStarlings80s And 90sChiantiChopped Liver
Author:Thomas Harris
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“What it means to be human is to bring up your children in safety, educate them, keep them healthy, teach them how to care for themselves and others, allow them to develop in their own way among adults who are sane and responsibile, who know the value of the world and not its economic potential. It means art, it means time, it means all the invisibles never counted by the GDP and the census figures. It means knowing that life has an inside as well as an outside. And I think it means love.”

ThinkingKnowsWorldWayHumansWellsMeanChildrenArtCareValuesTeachKnowingEconomicFiguresHealthyAdultsSafetyYour ChildrenEducateSaneGdpCensusWhat It Means To Be HumanMean Love
Author:Jeanette Winterson
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“All day long this man would toil thus, his whole being centered upon the purpose of making twenty-three instead of twenty-two and a half cents an hour; and then his product would be reckoned up by the census taker, and jubilant captains of industry would boast of it in their banquet halls, telling how our workers are nearly twice as efficient as those of any other country. If we are the greatest nation the sun ever shone upon, it would seem to be mainly because we have been able to goad our wage-earners to this pitch of frenzy.”

IfsMenLongHas BeensTwoCountryWholeSeemsWould BeAblePurposeThreeNationsHoursHalfSunProductsIndustryTwentiesWorkersHallsEfficientCentsOther CountriesCaptainsToilBoastFrenzyBanquetsTwenty TwoCensusCaptains Of Industry
Book:The Jungle
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“Luke [the gospel writer] screws up his dating by tactlessly mentioning events that historians are capable of independently checking. There was indeed a census under Governor Quirinius - a local census, not one decreed by Caesar Augustus for the Empire as a whole - but it happened too late in 6 AD, long after Herod's death.”

LongWholeReligionHappenedEventsLateCapableDatingLocalsToo LateEmpiresHistorianAdsGovernorsScrewsLukeScrew UpsAugustusCensusHerodAugustus Caesar
Author:Richard Dawkins
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“One thing that's really interesting is not only the magnitude of the recent immigration into this country, but also its distribution and its investment in the country. About 9.3 percent of the population is now foreign-born [announced by the Census Bureau at over 10 percent a few days later]. What's really surprising is how well distributed those population groups are. Historically, we see new immigrants primarily on the coast and in a few big cities. I think the data are going to show a much wider distribution of the new population groups than we've experienced historically.”

ThinkingWellsCountryShowsBigsBornInterestingCitiesOne ThingGroupsPercentInvestmentPopulationImmigrationDataImmigrantsSurprisingCoastDistributionReally InterestingMagnitudeBig CitiesCensusCensus Bureau
Author:Kenneth Prewitt
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“School performance, public health, crime rates, clinical depression, tax compliance, philanthropy, race relations, community development, census returns, teen suicide, economic productivity, campaign finance, even simple human happiness - all are demonstrably affected by how (and whether) we connect with our family and friends and neighbours and co-workers.”

HumansSchoolHumanityCommunitySimpleRaceEconomicCrimeDevelopmentReturnTaxesPerformancesRelationSuicideWorkersRateProductivityCampaignsFinanceOur FamilyAffectedPhilanthropyFamily And FriendsNeighbourRace RelationsPublic HealthComplianceClinicalsHuman HappinessCo WorkerCensusCommunity DevelopmentCrime RatesCampaign FinanceClinical Depression
Author:Robert D. Putnam
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“According to the National Crime Survey administered by the Bureau of the Census and the National Institute of Justice, it was found that only 12 percent of those who use a gun to resist assault are injured, as are 17 percent of those who use a gun to resist robbery. These percentages are 27 and 25 percent, respectively, if they passively comply with the felon's demands. Three times as many were injured if they used other means of resistance.”

IfsMeanUsePoliticalUsedThreeFoundJusticeCrimeDemandPercentGunResistanceGun ControlAssaultThree TimesPercentagesInjuredInstituteSurveysRight To Bear ArmsRobberyCensusFelonsGun Crime
Author:Gary Kleck
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