Once a week at least, most of us get a phone call from this or that Survey House and get to answer all sorts of apparently useless questions. Statistics have their purpose however... if only to measure our own downfalls. Bare with me for a minute and I'll prove it.
The often alarming crime statistics tend to demonstrate that men may not be as civilized as they claimed to be... some of them anyway. The smoking statistics show our tendency to ignore warnings... although the lung cancer statistics scream that we'd better pay attention fast. The suicide statistics tell us that we don't listen the way we should to those in need; and the accident statistics suggest that the engine in our car is often times more powerful than our brain. Immigration statistics whisper that perhaps we're not as welcoming as we think we are; and drunk driving statistics clearly claim that some of us will never learn. We're all alarmed by the global warming statistics, and yet we do very little to stop it, as demonstrated by the recycling statistics.
I could go on forever, but it would serve little purpose; besides, Statistics show that the shorter a text, the better chance it has to be read to the end.