Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Do Americans Know the Difference Between Cause and Effect These Days???

Hello,

I don't watch much TV. Reason being I get tired of sorting through all the stupid crap for the few gold nuggets. It seems quite dumbed down.

One of the few shows I tolerate is Modern Marvels. They tend to get things right, more or less.

Was watching the latest one, "Mega Weapons" or something similar.

Before Number 1 on the countdown, there was a commercial break. The announcer said, "Coming up, number one on our list, a weapon that caused one of the most infamous crimes in history" or something very close to that. The word "caused" was used. It's what got my undivided attention.

After skipping through the commercials on the DVR, it turns out the weapon in question was the handgun. They had changed "caused" to "used to commit". That I can accept. The crime was Lincoln's assassination.

They also mentioned in the beginning of the "Number 1" segment that "like it or not, handguns are a large part of American culture," or similar. It seemed pro-gun overall with responsible gun handling and just an overall positive note. (ie, guns are used by criminals, but also by the good guys, etc.)

Anyway, it got me to wondering if folks are really taking the time to notice the differences between causes, tools, and effects, and that only actions, not objects, tend to be causes.

This just irritates me.

Josh

P.S. They also went into an in-depth explanation of rifling, but then talked about how the ball used in Booth's derringer was sub-caliber and therefore bounced around in the barrel, which would allow it to go any which way, and that's why Booth had to be close to Lincoln. They would have been right had they been talking a smoothbore, but they clearly depicted a rifled bore. Ideally there would have been a patch there. Idiots! Arrrrrgh!