[Misc.]The fuel that drives the media engine. - Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc (Latin: "after this, therefore because of this") is a logical fallacy (of the questionable cause variety) that states "Since event Y followed event X, event Y must have been caused by event X." – Wikipedia.

The school shooter played a violent video game before going out to shoot people; therefore playing violent video games cause school shootings. – (Censorship via age and regional restrictions).

A person gets drunk at a bar before assaulting another person; therefore getting drunk at a bar causes violence. – (Lockout laws and liquor licenses).

A person was watching pornography before raping another person; therefore watching pornography causes rape. – (Censorship and the instantiation of laws that make it illegal to pursue a career in sex work).

A person committed suicide after listening to music from [insert band name]; therefore listing to [insert band name] causes suicide. – (PMRC)

Rules for detecting these fallacies are not hard and fast but I think it is important to have a general understanding of them in our media saturated world. This fallacy are often an example of confirmation bias and selective interpretation of evidence to suit a specific narrative. However, in cases like these, causation needs to be proved first.

This fallacy is often used to strip autonomy from the individual responsible and then attach it to some other agent or abstract concept (a Red Herring) i.e., Listening to Metallica/Marilyn Manson contributes to suicidal ideation. When Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacies are not questioned, they are often used as justification to increase regulatory measures and censorship.

If people are more interested in developing their skills in picking out these fallacies I recommend these two resources;

SEP and Your logical fallacy is