Death to the donut chart!

 

Big thanks to hot tipper Jennifer M. in Seattle for this chart joke courtesy of WTF Visualizations.  The donut is one of my favorite forms of food, but the donut chart is an abomination.   When I saw Edward Tufte speak a couple of years ago, he said, in a tone dripping with contempt, "The only thing worse than a pie chart is multiple pie charts."  I would counter his statement by claiming that the donut chart is worse than the pie chart.  (He then might counter by pointing out that the donut is merely a variation upon the pie, but I digress.)

I am hoping to ignite a vicious flame war about this topic in the comments, so donut chart defenders, now is your opportunity!  Tell us: why do you inflict the donut on the rest of us?   What have we done to deserve a chart that makes it nearly impossible to actually understand the data being represented?  Why aren't bar charts good enough for you?