Blaming what we have little or no perceived control over can be explained away by scapegoating onto the government or big business. For example, the way you interpret your own behavior, and that of others, may be very different from the way a third party observer might interpret those same behaviors. Often, there is a self-serving bias in these interpretations. We tend to use each type in explaining our own, and others', behavior in a way that makes us look good to others and feel good to ourselves. Superstitions in general.
Causation exists when changes in one variable make another variable change.
Sales of Ice Cream is correlated with murder rates. Number of golf courses built and the divorce rate are correlated. While it would be absurd to claim that drownings increase the sales of soft drinks, or that eating too much ice cream causes people to murder others, we often do see people using claims that items which are merely correlated actually represent cause and effect relationships. Simply because two things occur at roughly the same time and place does not mean that there is any direct or indirect association between them. It was felt that the youth ran wild and undisciplined, compared with fond memories of Europe and children who were seen and not heard.