You're imposing a cause/effect dichotomy that doesn't actually exist. Most causes are effects of something else. When we talk about mixing up cause and effect,

You're imposing a cause/effect dichotomy that doesn't actually exist. Most causes are effects of something else. When we talk about mixing up cause and effect, we mean that A is said to have caused B when in actuality A was caused by B. Showing that A was caused by C does not mean that we've mixed up cause and effect, because nobody said A caused C.