Back when this editor was teaching freshman English, he'd spend a couple of days on logical fallacies. One was the appeal to authority, which runs rampant in the mainstream media with every "experts say" story they run. Another one was <em>post hoc ergo propter hoc</em>, meaning that because something happened before something else, it must have been the cause. A good example of this comes to us from WKRN, an ABC affiliate in Nashville, which reported on a school shooting Wednesday.

The broadcast is fine, but we wonder who came up with the text for the post:

Yes, that's what did it. The student was holding off on shooting two other students until the White House Office of Gun Violence Protection was shut down.

Obviously, whoever runs the social media account of WKRN has an agenda and decided to use this tragedy to run with it.

 {ai:summary}<p>A recent school shooting in Nashville has sparked criticism over media narratives linking the incident to the shutdown of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Critics argue that suggesting a causal relationship is a logical fallacy, highlighting the absurdity of blaming the office's closure for the shooting.</p><p>Social media reactions reflect disbelief at the notion that the office's existence could have influenced the actions of the shooter. Many commentators emphasize that the office's shutdown was not a factor in the tragedy, questioning the media's portrayal of the event. #society</p>

News: Two Students Shot Day After Trump Shut Down Office of Gun Violence Prevention

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