LANGUAGE

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Gourmet English: Post hoc, propter hoc.

Gourmet English: Post hoc, propter hoc.:

Post hoc, propter hoc.

It means, (thank you Google Translate) “After this, therefore this.” In other words, if one thing happens after another thing, then the first thing was caused by the second thing. If you, for example, catch a money spider, and then win the Euromillions jackpot, you connect the two and thank the money spider.

An example: The strange death of Dr David Kelly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RSPBsyAB20
Lots of post hoc, propter hoc here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRsgTHIsovc
Why was the Police investigation called Operation Mason? Masons keep secrets. Therefore there must be some cover up.Dr Kelly's body was discovered inside a tree circle. Therefore it was the secret worshippers who must have killed him and dragged his body there.A man said, “They do things up there”. He meant the woods where Dr Kelly's body was found. After he said this, it was obvious that Dr Kelly had been murdered.Dr Kelly wrote a letter the day before his death: “Many dark actors playing games.” Therefore he must have been murdered by a plot.
If you think about it, none of the above proves anything much.

Further examples:

My friend Mick went to a Muslim country where he stayed in a hotel. Pork was on the menu. He ate it. After eating the pork, he got terrible diarrhoea. That proves the pork was only on the menu to trick non Muslims…
If you pull a silly face and the wind changes, you will stay like that...
Conspiracy theories...
But, let us be truthful here.

Just because something happens after something else, it doesn't mean there is a cause.

This trick can easily be exposed for what it is: post hoc, propter hoc. But if it is used carefully, it can be slipped in.
Like this:
Sir John Scarlett was Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 2004 to 2009. Shortly after the death of Dr Kelly (17 July 2003), Scarlett was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in the Queen's New Years Honours List 2007. (My example: just because the two events followed on, that does not mean they are related: it just can be made to look that way.)










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