A Causal Analysis of Casual Analysis

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon binging on YouTube, watching anything from crazy Super Bowl 50 conspiracies, flat earth theories, and who would win in a fight between Goku and Superman. All examples of causal analysis, well, Goku and Superman might be pushing it, but it was scientific to me so I’ll allow it. After going through my videos watched list I found example after example of argumentative videos with some “I got a bald head” littered in between. Apparently I just really like to know stuff, any kind of stuff, seriously, look at my history, I do not discriminate.

The one thing, however, that all these arguments had in common was that they invoked some type of emotional response from me. From the Super Bowl 50 crybabies, who were just as humiliated as their fallen idol, the whackjobs who were seriously trying to present the case that the earth is flat; everything had a purpose behind what was being said. Which leads to the reading.

All three examples listed did a good job of understanding their audience. I am personally a Broncos fan, always have been. And call me a bandwagon fan, I’ll show you videos of me as kid pretending to be Terrell Davis. So obviously I just laughed at what I watched but to be fair the video wasn’t for me. It was intended for Carolina fans and it gave them a place to come together, leave comments, and overall gripe with a sense of community. The flat earth theory appealed to people who wear aluminum hats and that’s I’ll say about that. While the Goku vs Superman was clearly intended for fans of both “DC Comics” and “Dragonball(z)”

They also tried to show cause and effect. They explained why something happened or how something happens; they tried to explain the consequences of these causes and/or effects and at the end of the day, definitely made a case that a less educated person might have accepted as fact. By less educated I mean someone with no background with the information presented, not stupid people.

But what I learned the most from is where these examples screwed up. And thankfully the reading helped point them out. They jumped to conclusions, big time. For example, one video I watched was titled “Super Bowl Rigged!!!!!!!!!” Oh really? Why is that?

“Because Peyton Manning was retiring and so the NFL just gave it to him.” (note to reader, he has not made a decision as I’m writing this)

Ok so where's the proof? Of course none was provided in the video.

The flat earth video was guilty of manipulating facts. Here’s an example, because light travels so fast, it perceives the earth to be flat, therefore, it is flat. Seriously, that was the groundbreaking evidence. The Goku vs Superman example was plagued with blasphemy because it concluded that Superman would win.

At the end of it all, I’d have to say that if you are going to write a causal analysis essay; the ability to present a clearly stated argument with substantial data to support is paramount. Your opinion should not make up people’s minds for them, the facts should. And Goku would seriously wreck Superman.