Am I the only one who spots correlation/causation issues EVERYWHERE? Or do they just stick out because I do LSAT stuff all day?
I don't know...but I couldn't help noticing a BUNCH of articles in Gawker committing correlation-causation flaws.
(Yeah, I know Gawker.com REALLY shut down because of the lawsuit with Hulk Hogan, but it's fun to pretend.)
For example, take a look at this one, "Poor Reading Skills Are Hazardous to Your Health."
They assume that because poor reading skills and poor health are correlated, that poor reading skills CAUSE poor health. Maybe a 3rd variable (low income?) is responsible for both!
Then, they did it again with this one: "Starbucks' War on Laptop Hobos Is Paying Off," assuming that kicking out "laptop hobos" is the *reason* for Starbucks' increased profits. (That's a post hoc fallacy, for those of you who care about such things.)
Then, they did it AGAIN in this article about smoking in the morning.
Crazy, right?
So, that's just some food for thought from the logical reasoning going on inside my brain as I read the news (and weirdly collect clips of what I find).
Be careful out there when you read the news these days :)
-LSkeptical Steve
P.S. Next time, I'll share one of the most surprising insights I've discovered about Reading Comp.
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