In one of the most famous scenes in Portuguese cinema, the data analyst asks the INE (National Statistics Institute) clerk: "Give me data on this topic." The clerk replies: "We don't have data on this topic." The analyst then says: "In that case, give me a pack of unfounded opinions." The cycle repeats until it's no longer even necessary to say "we don't have data." (I'm adapting the scene, data would never be discussed in a Portuguese movie.)
The lack of data in Portugal is something extraordinary. There isn't a conference, a debate, or perhaps even a conversation among a group of drunks at four in the morning where the main conclusion is: "It would be cool to do this, but there is no data."
I read somewhere that, during the National Assembly debates in the 1950s, it was argued that it was dangerous to teach people how to read because they might get "ideas." That those in power dislike people with ideas is a universal truth. Here, several of the foundations of the dictatorship still persist, merely adjusted to modern times.
We do not have a data culture. We have a culture of opinions that used to focus on football and now imports every single culture war. No one seems to care much.
I wrote that the RASI (Annual Internal Security Report) is inconceivable for a report on internal security. The Finance Minister produces misleading charts and few complain. As for the state of open data, it's not even worth mentioning. Everything that is truly interesting and detailed is confidential, if it even exists. The website that reports election results doesn't want mere mortals to analyze the data. The examples are endless.
