“The World According to Doctrine” — Evil Recycles

“Survey questions they won’t ask”

When people ask you; “How are you doing?” – just say “Good” or “I’m doing OK” – because most people don’t want to hear your problems — the same thing is true of surveys. Our Town survey, like everything to do with policy and politics, comes from Cornell. The cold-call telephone questions were loaded, open for interpretation, and asked well in advance of public awareness of the issues they would be used for. When the agenda of the survey emerged – its authors quickly backpedaled in an angry Town meeting: claiming it was only a preliminary indication; and of no great importance — this same survey was later used as the sole determining mandate from the residents for the Town’s Comprehensive Plan and all future development. Surveys are used to provide an appearance of public legitimacy to the unilateral decision making of Cornell County planners. When residents claim that they are inadequate, biased, or deceptive – county officials merely defend the results; and make no changes, People may not make the right decisions — and surveys are an important step to prevent that.