Manipulation of statistics to generate causation-correlation explanations is shown below in a spoof.
Our pattern seeking instincts has been shaped by our quest for certainty. This has rendered us highly vulnerable to misinterpretation of events and the subsequent distortion of our expectations. Pattern seeking plays well into our cognitive biases. Yet many seek comfort in the confines of statistics, which unknowing to many could be manipulated or skewed to fit into the bias of the presenter for whatsoever purpose/s (often politics).
And this is why we should cautiously be screening or filtering data and opinions for their validity than just to accept them as irrefragable reality or truth.
As Mark Twain once said,
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics
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