Root Causes Department

John Derbyshire points to a delightful analysis of “what’s wrong with the world” from none other than Ethel Merman (in the movie It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World):

[Unidentified gent]: “Take it easy, Honey. These things happen”

Mrs. Marcus (Ethel Merman): “Now what kind of an attitude is that, ‘these things happen?’ They only happen because this whole country is just full of people who, when these things happen, they just say ‘these things happen,’ and that’s why they happen!”