« Weird Bulb, Big Savings | Main | Bad News »
September 02, 2006
Speaking of Correlation and Causation
I noticed a confluence of stories last week. One, highlighted by Allahpundit over at HotAir, was a paper by a NU law professor describing how exposure to pornography reduces the occurrence of rape. Well, he doesn't describe how, but he thinks there's a connection.
Then, there was this article in the Chicago Sun-Tribune about how being a Christian will make you fat. Well, at least the Southern Baptists. It's because Jesus didn't give us any dietary requirements, and then Paul came along and mandated potlucks. Something like that.
The connection between the two is that, if exposure to pornography makes one less likely to be a rapist, then Christianity will make you a rapist. At least, so say the trolls on my blog.
Do we have to explain to these people every single, freaking time that correlation and causation are not the same thing? Let's just take some silly example and use their same pattern.
1) IL has the largest budget deficit of the 50 states.
2) IL is the largest producer of soybeans of the 50 states.
3) Therefore, IL's budget problems are due to the number of soybeans grown there.
Of course, that's utterly foolish, but it's the exact same argument used in those other articles.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish my ice cream and go cruise for chicks.
Posted by at September 2, 2006 01:09 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.slublog.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2557
Comments
God is love;
Love is blind;
Stevie Wonder is blind;
Stevie Wonder is God.
Posted by: harrison at September 2, 2006 09:04 AM