“Anyone who thinks it’s possible to draw truthful conclusions from data analysis without really learning statistics needs to read this.”
That’s all good and true. You probably can’t trust the statistical results presented by someone who never really learned statistics. Similarly though, you can’t ever put too much weight on critiques of statistical techniques by people who never really learned statistics either. I’m not saying the latter applies here.
I think a clearer message would be, “Dear non-statisticians, please realize that other non-statisticians do bad statistical analysis.”
There really isn’t much here for statisticians to learn from. They already know this stuff. It’s more about educating laypeople and/or creating a sense of superiority in one group of non-statisticians over another group of non-statisticians.
The bad thing about “geek chic” is that it’s vastly increased the number of dilettantes who like to lecture people about math and science when their credentials don’t extend much past having watched Battlestar Galactica or whatever it is they think gives them nerd-cred.
