Surprise at such garbage would truly be surprising in this day and age. The New York Times proves once again that the term “rag” would actually be a compliment in their case.
…

It was very much like when your kids try to lie to you. The attempt is pretty good, and the story is pretty amusing, but you know they’re lying without even having to check on it.

This was so pathetic it was funny.

I was occupying space on Planet Earth at the time, but I only remember it because it came up a few years later as a sample of statistical manipulation.

The thrust of the stories was the same: military training and war experience unbalances and coarsens those who participate, thereby rendering them more likely to create problems when back home.

As an exercise, we went on to establish that not only were a disproportionate number of criminal acts attributable to veterans, but a disproportionate number of veterans also grew roses; drove Chevys; worked as pharmacists; used fountain pens; sold insurance; and joined fire departments.

Why? Simple. From 1941 until 1973 males in this country were subject to the draft - EVERYBODY had been in the military. A disproportionate number of veterans did EVERYTHING! Well, duh! But that simple and plainly apparent fact wasn’t a feature of the yellowed newspaper clippings we looked at, or the breathless reportage contained therein. Thus can you play with statistics.

These days are clearly different, there is no draft. But: Statiscal manipulation, lying by omission, media hysteria, and sheer incompetence (never, never, never underestimate the effect that stupidity has had throughout human history, it doesn’t get nearly enough cvredit in the textbooks) remain unchanged.