Wit and Logical Fallacy

Alexander Woollcott

Writing to a friend in 1942, Alexander Woollcott used the post hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacy to comic effect.

“It may please you to know that one year ago, General Eisenhower was a lieutenant colonel,” he wrote. “When men of ability are needed, the Army has always known how to bring them through the ranks. I, you might recall, was similarly promoted from private to sergeant in the last war, and you know how well that came out.”

“Post hoc ergo propter hoc” is Latin for “After this, therefore because of this.” It’s a propaganda technique used frequently by the confused and the intellectually dishonest — as, for example, when fundamentalist Christians claim that the existence of gay people causes hurricanes and earthquakes.