Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

    Post hoc ergo propter hoc is simply Latin for “after this, therefore because of this”. It seems New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg is guilty of committing this kind of logical fallacy in blaming hurricane Sandy on global warming.

    Global warming and cooling have been occurring cyclically for billions of years. Have you ever heard talk about the “Ice Age(s)”? Have you ever heard of the great Galveston hurricane of 1900? Those events happened long before humans existed or before humans had any appreciable impact on the global environment.

    Now Mayor Bloomberg is using President Obama’s position on global warming as justification to endorse him for re-election‽ Remember this is the mayor who outlawed over-sized refreshments because he appointed himself the supreme authority on what is bad for HIS people.

    What is really sad is that there are so many sequacious people who glibly accede to his purported concerns about the health impact. They support their acceptance with comments such as, “Well, he’s right, you know” or “He’s only looking out for us.” It’s that kind of shrugging acceptance which seems symptomatic of our loss of personal freedoms!

    In a letter to the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, Doctor Kathleen Kreider of New Holland (PA) [published October 19, 2012], deplores the “growing and disturbing trend…[of] sacrificing our right to make individual choices about things as fundamental as what we eat and drink” in the purported interest of public health. She also mentions a local hospital which has recently announced they WILL NOT hire, or employ smokers even if those people smoke only off duty or off premises.

    Educating people about potential consequences of unhealthy behavior is part of her job. Babysitting them to prevent unhealthy behavior is not part of her job nor should it be. Neither should it be the job of a big city mayor. Even as a mayor, Mister Bloomberg has a right to his opinion but since his intervention to staunch Free Will, political endorsements seem a dangerous track for him to take.

    Prosit, Skol, L’Chaim and Cheers all mean essentially “To your health” -- They are toasts, not Orwellian commands!