About Cause and Effect

Warning: This grumpy post may cause you grumpiness as well. You have been warned.

In my house if you loudly say “Dammit!” or “Oh, crap!” the dog comes running. He’s gotten used to one of us saying that when we accidentally drop food in the kitchen, so he automatically thinks “Food on the ground” and comes running. The cause, in this case, is the phrase. The effect is him running up. It’s very clear and repeatable, and a textbook definition of causality.

Causality, or cause and effect, is a relatively simple concept. A event or condition (the effect) is the result of the presence or occurrence of another event or condition (the cause.) One follows the other, true, but that’s because one causes the other. That’s a key part that often fails to connect with people.

Here’s what brought this to my attention.

Several news outlets recently ran a story headlined, “Hours after Trump signs Muslim ban, Texas mosque goes up in flames.” The implication there is, of course, that the ban caused the fire – or, at least, caused the people to set the fire.

Honestly, I’m not convinced of the media attempt to paint Trump followers as blindly and instantly following his every whim.  (Or even the implication that all Republicans are Trump followers – they’re not. Not even close.) I think we should consider that there remains a sizeable number of people in the country that don’t think very deeply and do what they want, regardless of who’s in power or whether what they want is a good idea. They aren’t necessarily just Republicans or Democrats, because they include a number of each. Let’s just call them “Assholes.”

So, if we assume that the fire was intentionally started, here’s an alternate headline that paints a clearer cause and effect: “Assholes burn down Texas mosque.” The implication here is much stronger – the effect (fire) was a result of the cause (they’re assholes.)

So if you’re a Republican, be a good one. If you’re a Democrat or Libertarian or whatever, go for it. Just be sure to pay attention to the cause and effect implications in your news feed and don’t spread foolishness.

We don’t need any more assholes.

Editor’s note: For the curious, let me paraphrase the Pink Panther movie: “That picture’s not my dog.”

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