I’m often complaining about what I call “meaningless metrics.” These are relative measurements that seem to imply something, when in fact they really don’t. For example, if you read something like “Portland’s homicide rate doubles” and then find out it’s gone from two murders a year to four, you quite rightfully are angered.

I think we have another meaningless metric in this headline, “Afghan War Is Now Longest War in US History.” Our brain immediately thinks, “Oh my God! Does this mean the Afghan war is the worst war ever?” Well, no. If you use any meaningful metric like lives lost, the Afghan war might be the United States “best” war. The article even concedes this:

More than 50,000 Americans lost their lives in Vietnam; certainly no one expects the toll in Afghanistan to reach anything like that number.

This is followed with what might be the king of waffling, pointless paragraphs that say nothing:

But Vietnam and Afghanistan do have this much in common: they are distant, profoundly complex, and ill-understood campaigns. Not surprisingly, then, they defy easy resolutions. And, in their own ways, these two wars have tested the mettle and patience of a nation.