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False Cause

184 statements
30 feature instances
15 referencing feature instances

False Cause	type	FeatureClass
False Cause	label	False Cause
False Cause	page	FalseCause
False Cause	comment	Confusing correlation with causation, assuming causation because of correlation, or ignoring that there is some other factor that affects both of the things under discussion. Often summed up as "Correlation does not imply causation". Also called "Magical Thinking"note many superstitions are based on committing this fallacy or "Ignoring a Common Cause". The easiest way to dispel this fallacy is to remember that statistics do not occur in a vacuum: correlation only implies causation if all other factors are equal, which they frequently are not. You must take into account all factors before you can narrow down to the deciding factors. See Correlation/Causation Gag for when this is Played for Laughs. Also see Placebotinum Effect.
False Cause	fetched	2024-01-23T05:01:40Z
False Cause	parsed	2024-01-23T05:01:40Z
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to ArtisticLicensePhysics: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to CatchYourDeathOfCold: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to ComicallyMissingThePoint: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to CountryMusic: Not an Item - CAT
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to CryingWolf: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to EmbarrassingDampSheets: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to EvilLawyerJoke: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to GridPuzzle: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to Irony: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to MindScrew: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to NewMediaAreEvil: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to OurDragonsAreDifferent: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to PlayedForLaughs: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to ReeferMadnessTheMusical: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to SatanicPanic: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to SuckOutThePoison: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to SugarCausesHyperactivity: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to TheFundamentalist: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to TheSeventies: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to TheSixties: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to UrbanLegend: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to WarIsHell: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to WeAllDieSomeday: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingComment	Dropped link to invoked: Not an Item - FEATURE
False Cause	processingUnknown	UrbanLegend
False Cause	processingUnknown	ReeferMadnessTheMusical
False Cause	isPartOf	DBTropes
False Cause / int_1463a028	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_1463a028	comment	This exact argument is used in an SVU episode where some kids attacked a woman and killed her. The kids played a video game with a similar attack, therefore, the video game caused them to attack the woman.
False Cause / int_1463a028	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_1463a028	featureConfidence	1.0
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	hasFeature	False Cause / int_1463a028
False Cause / int_148f217e	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_148f217e	comment	In Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek, the eponymous wolf is hunted by Ollie because she happens to show up whenever a disaster happens. In truth, the disasters are caused by a very human saboteur vacationing in the area. The wolf's appearances are entirely Red Herrings that foreshadow her interest in human affection and activity, which is unusual but has a logical cause unrelated to the mystery.
False Cause / int_148f217e	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_148f217e	featureConfidence	1.0
Nancy Drew (Video Game)	hasFeature	False Cause / int_148f217e
False Cause / int_261c8d3f	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_261c8d3f	comment	The Simpsons: In "Much Apu About Nothing", a bear randomly appearing in the neighborhood leads the mayor to fund a massive Bear Patrol scheme. Homer claims that the lack of bears proves the Bear Patrol works, at which point Lisa points out that you might as well say that a rock keeps tigers away, since she's holding the rock, and she can't see any tigers. Homer's response? "Lisa, I want to buy your rock." In "Radioactive Man", Bart meets a guy who apparently lives in an old Spirograph factory. As Bart goes to leave, the guy ominously warns "there's a direct correlation between the decline in Spirograph use and the rise in gang activity!"
False Cause / int_261c8d3f	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_261c8d3f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Simpsons	hasFeature	False Cause / int_261c8d3f
False Cause / int_2e3e7ac2	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_2e3e7ac2	comment	Justice League: One episode features a journalist claiming that since white-collar crime has risen since the League formed, the League clearly causes that crime (in fact, given the League's style, it's entirely possible that the smarter criminals turn to white-collar rather than blue-collar crime to reduce the chances of Superman slapping them around Metropolis, but his logic still doesn't track). An even better example (from that same episode, that same scene, and that same character) would be when the talk show host demands that the Flash explain why since the League was formed 50% of all marriages end in divorce, and the rest end in death. Not only is there no connection between the founding of the Justice League and divorce rates, of course all the other marriages end in death. The couples who didn't get divorced simply grew old and died naturally, by accidents, etc. Hence the phrase "'til death do you part".
False Cause / int_2e3e7ac2	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_2e3e7ac2	featureConfidence	1.0
Justice League	hasFeature	False Cause / int_2e3e7ac2
False Cause / int_38c87187	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_38c87187	comment	Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: One strip both discusses and mocks this trope. One guy says he doesn't believe events are causally connected. His friend turns out the light, pulls out a gun, and a shot rings out. When his friend exclaims in dismay at the bullet in his arm, he blames it on the darkness.
False Cause / int_38c87187	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_38c87187	featureConfidence	1.0
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (Webcomic)	hasFeature	False Cause / int_38c87187
False Cause / int_3f4a104b	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_3f4a104b	comment	In one Dilbert strip, the Pointy-Haired Boss tells Dilbert that he's been receiving anonymous emails with links to articles about the world's worst bosses. He's caught on to the fact that he gets one of those emails every time he leaves Dilbert's cubicle, and says he notices the correlation. However, right outside Dilbert's cubicle, Wally sends another anonymous email to the boss, while thinking to himself, "Correlation does not imply causation."
False Cause / int_3f4a104b	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_3f4a104b	featureConfidence	1.0
Dilbert (Comic Strip)	hasFeature	False Cause / int_3f4a104b
False Cause / int_46518682	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_46518682	comment	Sesame Street had a Bert & Ernie sketch where Ernie held a banana in his ear, claiming it kept away alligators.
False Cause / int_46518682	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_46518682	featureConfidence	1.0
Sesame Street	hasFeature	False Cause / int_46518682
False Cause / int_468bebb0	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_468bebb0	comment	Discworld: While witches are certainly capable of casting Curses that actually harm people or cause ill-fortune, they prefer to rely on the fact that bad things happen to people all the time. If one of them happens after you've "cursed" them, they'll remember.
False Cause / int_468bebb0	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_468bebb0	featureConfidence	1.0
Discworld	hasFeature	False Cause / int_468bebb0
False Cause / int_4a059a74	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_4a059a74	comment	The Mandalorian: One of the thugs at the beginning of Chapter 1 gets in Mando's face for spilling his drink when he entered the building. However, the drink had already been spilled by the thug himself when he stood up and hit the table in the process.
False Cause / int_4a059a74	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_4a059a74	featureConfidence	1.0
The Mandalorian	hasFeature	False Cause / int_4a059a74
False Cause / int_5755b96a	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_5755b96a	comment	The Order of the Stick: Someone once told the red dragon Empress of Blood that more powerful dragons have grown larger. So now she spends all her time stuffing her face to gain as much weight as possible. Since she's a Puppet King, this may have been intentional.
False Cause / int_5755b96a	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_5755b96a	featureConfidence	1.0
The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)	hasFeature	False Cause / int_5755b96a
False Cause / int_57a3683f	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_57a3683f	comment	One Not Always Right story has a clerk working in a shop where the bathroom light turns on a short while after the switch is flipped. One impatient customer drags the clerk over without paying attention to the clerk's explanation and flicks the switch back and forth to prove his point. The clerk then flips the switch to on and yells "STRUN BAH QO" (Storm Call) just before the lights turn on. The customer is left awestruck that the Dragonborn stands before him.
False Cause / int_57a3683f	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_57a3683f	featureConfidence	1.0
Not Always Right (Website)	hasFeature	False Cause / int_57a3683f
False Cause / int_6059ad6b	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_6059ad6b	comment	xkcd: A strip using the rise of both Firefox and Wicca to imply that Firefox causes witchcraft. After looking at the data, Black Hat comes to the conclusion that cancer causes call phones.
False Cause / int_6059ad6b	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_6059ad6b	featureConfidence	1.0
xkcd (Webcomic)	hasFeature	False Cause / int_6059ad6b
False Cause / int_60f02ddb	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_60f02ddb	comment	In the American Dad! episode "A Smith in the Hand", Stan (who becomes addicted to masturbating after accidentally doing so while applying ointment to his penis) comes to the conclusion that he watches TV all the time and masturbates all the time, therefore TV causes him to masturbate. He then tells Steve that he constantly thinks about sex because he watches too much TV.
False Cause / int_60f02ddb	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_60f02ddb	featureConfidence	1.0
American Dad!	hasFeature	False Cause / int_60f02ddb
False Cause / int_6cb2d709	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_6cb2d709	comment	It's sometimes argued that "Harry Potter is a corrupting influence" because of the spectacular way in which Harry Potter actor Jamie Waylett went bad. Of the dozens of cast and hundreds of crew, one person went bad, and that's not near enough to "prove" malignancy. There's no way anyone can know if Waylett wouldn't have turned out the way he did anyway, or that he wasn't already headed in that direction before being cast in the Harry Potter movies. To use an example from the series proper, this would be like saying "all wizards in Voldemort's class will turn out evil because Voldemort turned out evil."
False Cause / int_6cb2d709	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_6cb2d709	featureConfidence	1.0
Harry Potter (Franchise)	hasFeature	False Cause / int_6cb2d709
False Cause / int_6f289ebc	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_6f289ebc	comment	Cynical spoof-journalist Jonathan Pie confidently predicted everything good or bad will be attributed to Brexit for years to come.
False Cause / int_6f289ebc	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_6f289ebc	featureConfidence	1.0
Jonathan Pie (Web Video)	hasFeature	False Cause / int_6f289ebc
False Cause / int_8d81f086	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_8d81f086	comment	Invoked in an episode of Monk. A pharmacist had killed his partner years ago and buried him on church property. When he learns the church plans on expanding, which would lead to the body's discovery, he concocts a scheme to stop them. He switches out patients' prescriptions for sugar pills so that their conditions worsen, then suggests that they drink from the church's fountain. Once he learns that they have, he starts giving them proper medicine again, so their conditions "miraculously" improve. As far as the patients know, they've been getting the medicine all along, but their symptoms only improved after drinking the holy water, therefore the holy water must be responsible for their recovery.
False Cause / int_8d81f086	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_8d81f086	featureConfidence	1.0
Monk	hasFeature	False Cause / int_8d81f086
False Cause / int_8dfbdff2	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_8dfbdff2	comment	In an episode of the mothership series, the defense lawyer for the serial killer of the week used a Media Watchdog witness to try to prove his client's violent actions were caused by violent TV. The prosecution destroys the argument by pointing out that if violent TV created violent people then everyone in the courtroom would be violent because everybody watches violent TV.
False Cause / int_8dfbdff2	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_8dfbdff2	featureConfidence	1.0
Law & Order	hasFeature	False Cause / int_8dfbdff2
False Cause / int_994e32db	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_994e32db	comment	Played with in Rango, as an owl mariachi band tells the story of the life and death of the hero, implying that the events of the movie would lead to Rango's death. At the end of the movie, Rango is alive and well, and the owls comment that he will inevitably die some day, as he is as mortal as anyone else.
False Cause / int_994e32db	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_994e32db	featureConfidence	1.0
Rango	hasFeature	False Cause / int_994e32db
False Cause / int_9a1901d	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_9a1901d	comment	In If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?, Reverend Pirkle tells us that crime has increased since the introduction of television.
False Cause / int_9a1901d	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_9a1901d	featureConfidence	1.0
If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?	hasFeature	False Cause / int_9a1901d
False Cause / int_9b9f250d	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_9b9f250d	comment	h3h3productions made a collab with PewDiePie in early 2017 where PewDiePie portrays a far more self-centered and greedy version of himself. Around the same time, YouTube had a glitch that caused subscriber counts to appear as if they were rapidly dropping, which made Ethan of h3h3 briefly think he had killed PewDiePie's channel.
False Cause / int_9b9f250d	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_9b9f250d	featureConfidence	1.0
h3h3productions (Web Video)	hasFeature	False Cause / int_9b9f250d
False Cause / int_9dfa8216	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_9dfa8216	comment	Law & Order: This exact argument is used in an SVU episode where some kids attacked a woman and killed her. The kids played a video game with a similar attack, therefore, the video game caused them to attack the woman. In an episode of the mothership series, the defense lawyer for the serial killer of the week used a Media Watchdog witness to try to prove his client's violent actions were caused by violent TV. The prosecution destroys the argument by pointing out that if violent TV created violent people then everyone in the courtroom would be violent because everybody watches violent TV.
False Cause / int_9dfa8216	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_9dfa8216	featureConfidence	1.0
Law & Order (Franchise)	hasFeature	False Cause / int_9dfa8216
False Cause / int_a32b6a64	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_a32b6a64	comment	The West Wing had an episode named from the Latin name for this fallacy, "Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc". In the episode, some of the White House staffers think President Bartlet's electoral problems with Texas stem from him making fun of their big hats. Bartlet mentions the above stated phrase, correcting them that his problem with Texas is his immigration policy. Also, (jokingly?):
False Cause / int_a32b6a64	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_a32b6a64	featureConfidence	1.0
The West Wing	hasFeature	False Cause / int_a32b6a64
False Cause / int_a346e791	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_a346e791	comment	In an episode of NUMB3RS, Charlie tells Don about the ice cream-rape correlation. As the sales of ice cream goes up, so do the number of rapes. The key is both take place during summer.
False Cause / int_a346e791	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_a346e791	featureConfidence	1.0
NUMB3RS	hasFeature	False Cause / int_a346e791
False Cause / int_b80e5912	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_b80e5912	comment	My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!: The story starts with eight-year old Catarina realizing that she's the Alpha Bitch character in a Romance Game named Fortune Lover, whose events will happen when she will be fifteen. Two of the possible main story branches have Maria, the Fortune Lover Player Character, end up with Catarina's fiancÃ© Geordo or Catarina's adoptive step-brother Keith. Both those scenarios end with Catarina either exiled or dead due to her general abuse of Maria and/or an outright murder attempt on her. Wanting to keep this from happening, Catarina acquires various skills to be able to find a job after her exile and counter the means by which she gets killed. She also figures out it's a good idea to act much nicer to Geordo and Keith than her Fortune Lover counterpart did and ends up Becoming the Mask. When all three of them enter the Wizarding School in which Fortune Lover is set and meet Maria, Catarina dreads the prospect of Geordo or Keith falling for Maria and killing Catarina to preserve the relationship even if she doesn't bully and/or try to kill Maria. What Catarina misses is that she wasn't killed and/or exiled to be taken out of the picture, but in response to her abuse and murder attempt, both actions that her current self would never dream of doing.
False Cause / int_b80e5912	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_b80e5912	featureConfidence	1.0
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!	hasFeature	False Cause / int_b80e5912
False Cause / int_d9c602eb	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_d9c602eb	comment	In one episode of South Park, banning Kentucky Fried Chicken causes a violent Black Market economy to spring up. Meanwhile, legalizing medical marijuana causes people to give themselves testicular cancer deliberately so they can legally get marijuana. The authorities look at the situation, and deduce that legalizing medical marijuana caused gang violence and legalizing Kentucky Fried Chicken will prevent testicular cancer.
False Cause / int_d9c602eb	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_d9c602eb	featureConfidence	1.0
South Park	hasFeature	False Cause / int_d9c602eb
False Cause / int_e46d33d6	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_e46d33d6	comment	Encanto: Many of the villagers blame Mirabel's uncle Bruno for their various misfortunes (such as a dead goldfish, gaining weight, or going bald) because he predicted the occurrences ahead of time. He did not cause their misfortunes at all, and is in fact Good All Along. He simply has No Social Skills, and it doesn't help that (per Word of God) Bruno's visions were so overwhelmingly negative because he's a massive worrywart (not helped by his mother Alma, unable to move past her own trauma, pressuring him to focus on possible threats to the village). To top it off, it's implied that he wasn't actually using his powers to predict the aforementioned misfortunes - he was simply stating likely outcomes of observed behaviors (such as one man enjoying his sweets a little too much, and a lady keeping her fish in a bowl which was way too small for it). This is also why he went into hiding prior to the events of the film. After Mirabel didnâ€™t receive a gift from the house, Alma asked him to look into her future. He received a vision that Mirabel would be involved in the collapse of the house, but recognized the vision was too vague to draw a proper conclusion from. He hid the vision and left because he knew that his reputation meant that everyone would immediately assume Mirabel was the cause of the the magic failing. Sure enough, Alma immediately jumps to blaming Mirabel once the vision is discovered.
False Cause / int_e46d33d6	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_e46d33d6	featureConfidence	1.0
Encanto	hasFeature	False Cause / int_e46d33d6
False Cause / int_f0a86c12	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_f0a86c12	comment	This is more or less the entire premise of How I Met Your Mother. The final season finally establishes the link between the events of the previous eight seasons, but it is clear that Ted could have just skipped to those events without telling his kids all the prior information. The series finale reveals what the real reason behind all of this was, and that has a logical correlation to the events of the show. Widower Ted is telling his kids about his romantic history with Robin to explain that he wants to pursue a relationship with her (the Mother died ten years prior).
False Cause / int_f0a86c12	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_f0a86c12	featureConfidence	1.0
How I Met Your Mother	hasFeature	False Cause / int_f0a86c12
False Cause / int_f6c05e8e	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_f6c05e8e	comment	Friends: Phoebe refuses to go to the dentist because every time she's gone in the past someone she knew has died while she was in the chair. When her current toothache becomes too painful she reluctantly makes an appointment and the first thing she does afterwards is call every single person she knows to make sure nobody has died.
False Cause / int_f6c05e8e	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_f6c05e8e	featureConfidence	1.0
Friends	hasFeature	False Cause / int_f6c05e8e
False Cause / int_f9781975	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_f9781975	comment	In Dumbo (2019), the film's take on the Magic Feather trope is done like this: the first few times Dumbo propels himself into the air are the result of him sneezing from a feather caught in his trunk, leading his human friends to conclude that he can't fly without one.
False Cause / int_f9781975	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_f9781975	featureConfidence	1.0
Dumbo (2019)	hasFeature	False Cause / int_f9781975
False Cause / int_ff9ab17f	type	False Cause
False Cause / int_ff9ab17f	comment	Star Trek: The Next Generation: In "Hero Worship", the Enterprise finds a child who was the lone survivor of a destroyed starship and thinks he caused its destruction because he accidentally hit a computer console when he was thrown off-balance just before everything blew up.
False Cause / int_ff9ab17f	featureApplicability	1.0
False Cause / int_ff9ab17f	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Trek: The Next Generation	hasFeature	False Cause / int_ff9ab17f

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

False Cause	processingCategory2	Logical Fallacies
False Cause	processingCategory2	Truth and Lies
Kickers, Inc. (Comic Book) / int_365ea0ab	type	False Cause
Duel Nature (Fanfic) / int_365ea0ab	type	False Cause
Your [True] Name (Fanfic) / int_365ea0ab	type	False Cause
The Flash (2023) / int_365ea0ab	type	False Cause
Saikano (Manga) / int_365ea0ab	type	False Cause
How I Met Your Mother / int_365ea0ab	type	False Cause
MandaloreGaming (Web Video) / int_365ea0ab	type	False Cause
Ctrl+Alt+Del (Webcomic) / int_365ea0ab	type	False Cause
Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures (Webcomic) / int_365ea0ab	type	False Cause
Hyperbole and a Half (Webcomic) / int_365ea0ab	type	False Cause
Spinnerette (Webcomic) / int_365ea0ab	type	False Cause
xkcd (Webcomic) / int_365ea0ab	type	False Cause
Encanto / int_365ea0ab	type	False Cause

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