Needs Help: False Cause

This image did not get enough consensus in the Image Suggestion thread. Other ideas?

Opened.

XKCD example is just text; the visuals add nothing. Hardly worth considering, really.

That said, for a trope like this, one probably needs at least some text to show what characters were blaming, so here's the SMBC example:

Works but is too bulky

How about the "number of pirates/Global temperatures" graph or one of the other false correlation graphs that are floating around out there now? (I'm personally partial to the "rate of margarine consumption/divorce rate in Maine" one — it's a nearly perfect correlation.) There's an entire site of them here

edited 15th Dec '16 8:09:43 AM by Madrugada

Whoa. This one is a nearly perfect correlation:

Damn. Unreadable at wiki size. :( can anything be done about that? Here's the permalink: http://tylervigen.com/view_correlation?id=28958 )

edited 15th Dec '16 9:04:49 AM by Madrugada

Alternatively, a less-bulky version of the SMBC idea...

edited 16th Dec '16 5:47:58 PM by neoYTPism

Wouldn't the comic example fit more the comedic trope Correlation/Causation Gag?

From my understanding; and please correct me if I'm wrong; false cause is when someone misinterprets the cause and effect relationship, and correlation/causation is more specifically when someone wrongly assumes that A causes B; the latter being a more specific form of the former. Making the SMBC one an example of both.

I went with a webcomic because it seems like a dialogue-dependent trope, as I doubt facial expressions alone could quite convey how characters assign blame. I could use TV/movie/game screenshots and caption them, but as far as I'm aware that tends to be frowned on.

Bumping after 2 weeks... this is near the bottom of the thread list.

In this thread, movie screenshots with speech balloons edited into them, though they weren't picked for the page, were considered a valid option. Would they be a valid option in this thread as well?

If there seems to be absolutely no alternative, I guess so.

Well, it's been a couple weeks. Should we resort to adding speech balloons to non-comics examples?

I could go with 7 if there aren't other suggestions.

edited 15th Jan '17 5:22:20 PM by Gosicrystal

"As you can see, there is a statistically significant inverse relationship between pirates and global temperature."

edited 15th Jan '17 8:13:10 PM by rodneyAnonymous

Eh, that'll do.

*snerk* I like that.

The trope page for False Cause says that if this concept is played for laughs then it's Correlation/Causation Gag.

Part of me wants to point out the graph is inaccurate, as piracy is actually more common nowadays. than it was centuries ago :-P

We also have this graph I found on Cracked.

I love the cracked one coz it even includes sources for its numbers.

^ But how do we know Organic Food is the false cause?

Eh, it's an "absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence" sort of thing. I prefer the pirates one for being so ludicrously over the top that it's more obvious it's a false cause.

Also, if that's a Cracked graph, why doesn't it have the Cracked watermark on it? Was it cropped out? Are we even allowed to do that?

Though I'd prefer the Pirate one if the Pirate numbers were correct :-P

Shouldn't matter. It's not like it's a requirement for a graph to depict reality with utmost detail. When coming up with a trope image, that is (if you were gonna present that in a conference, it's a different matter).

@22: I found it on Cracked, but they didn't make it. They got it from Imgur, apparently.

edited 16th Jan '17 6:17:16 PM by Adept