Qball
Corner Pocket
You claimed the stats aren't legit so it is up to you to provide the evidence. It's that simple.
I didn't say your stats aren't legit. Your ARGUMENT isn't legit. You can't just pay attention to the two things you like and then act like you have the debate sown up. There's more to the social and economic institution of marriage and divorce than mere statistics.
Can you remember what you post? Let me help ya:
(qball)
"Not only are they empty statistics, they're falsely correlative. MA has some of the toughest divorce laws in the country. They always have. It's harder in MA than in most states to actually dissolve a marriage, which thus means, fewer people actually do so. Showing the rate of divorce without also showing the rate of marriage doesn't prove anything."
You said they are empty statistics. Now you want to pretend you didn't claim the numbers aren't legit? You sure are working hard to avoid supporting your claim. When will you provide evidence showing it is justified to ignore the data?
Any statistic out of context is empty. You weren't reporting the divorce rates in those states, you were using them to make an argument -- one that I've actually heard quite a few times before and have never been impressed with. Like I said, I could, but I wont, because you have no reason to think I'm lying, and you really haven't given me any reason to believe that proving what I just said (though I think if you're going to discuss marriage and divorce, an understanding social and economic factors in marriage should be something you have BEFORE trying to pwn people on the Internets, but maybe that's just me) will change your opinion in the least, nor have you even explained why you disagree with me.
Your hypocrisy is already in view. As shown above, you want marriage rates factored in. Setting that red herring aside for a moment, we can use your deflection technique and say
"There are a lot of factors regarding marriage so those numbers are empty until we know how much a half box of Cheerios weighs on the moon, how much pocket lint is in the laundry mats in LA, what kind of tires will Miss Evelyn Deirgo will buy, and exactly how close can you get to the sun in a can of corn (not creamed)?"
Actually, what I'd want is for you to drop this entire point altogether. Addressing divorce rates after five years still wouldn't be a very convincing argument for SSM, because 1) any social and cultural impact gay marriage would have, it likely wouldn't be apparent in less than a decade...social change takes longer than that and I think social conservatives, when they speak of the detrimental effects of gay marriage, are speaking in generational terms, and 2) you're acting like this addresses the main prediction about gay marriage, when really, it's one only a handful of people make.
But...since I doubt you will drop this bad argument, I'd say yes, marriage rates would be important to your overall points since nobody can divorce before they marry. You act like instituting gay marriage had something to do with the divorce rate, but it very likely didn't.