Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,199
edits
False Dichotomy: Difference between revisions
trope->useful notes
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (Fixed quote) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (trope->useful notes) |
||
| (20 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{
{{quote|'''''False Dichotomy:''' This is where you say that there are only two choices, when actually there are more. For instance, you might say that someone is either alive, or they're dead, ignoring the fact that they might be Dracula. Or you might say that if someone's not a Democrat, they must be some sort of Republican, ignoring the very real possibility that they may be Dracula.''|[[Lore Sjoberg]], "Logical Fallacies"<ref>[http://youtube.com/watch?v=oyK1LTfLXiM Episode 5]</ref>}}
See Idea Channel's explanation of the fallacy [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqz53d-fYL8 here].
A false dichotomy, also known as either/or reasoning, is the artificial reduction of all the choices available in a discussion to two. It's usually rigged to favor one answer, and usually in two ways:
Line 8 ⟶ 10:
Of course, reality is rarely so simple, unforgiving or rigged. Instead of an artificial binary choice favouring an ideology, life offers a diverse landscape of choices and consequences.
This binary approach is also a common media trope. Simply put: it is a lot easier for an audience to understand a story where characters are villains ''or'' heroes. In the simpler romances, it is more straightforward if characters exhibit a transcendent love, or an excoriating hate. Contrast [[Golden Mean Fallacy]]. Necessary for someone to be able to [[Take a Third Option
[[Sub
* [[If Jesus, Then Aliens]]
* [[No Bisexuals]]
* [[With Us or Against Us]]
* [[There Are Two Kinds of People in
* [[All Myths Are True]]
{{examples}}
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[A Few Good Men]]'': Colonel Jessup, after having been accused of killing one of his own men (admittedly by accident): "I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post." (You either at war or not a soldier, used against a Military Lawyer)
** Also 'Either you agree with how I'm handling the situation or you want America's defense to fail.' Leaving aside, of course, the entirely obvious third option: that the questioner wants America's defense to succeed but thinks that the colonel's idea is flawed and will cause failure.
* The "Battle of Wits" from ''[[The Princess Bride (Film)|The Princess Bride]]'' presents this. Either Vizzini's cup is the poisoned one, or the Man in Black's is. Vizzini goes through dozens of justifications and possibilities for why one would poison either one, trying to stall for time. Either way, he never considers that {{spoiler|they're both poisoned}}.▼
** Or the fourth option that the question at hand is irrelevant to the overall success or failure of America's defense.
* ''[[Star Wars]]'', ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'': Two for one, one called out, the other unintentional.▼
▲* The "Battle of Wits" from ''[[The Princess Bride (
{{quote| '''Anakin''': “If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy!”<br />▼
▲* ''[[Star Wars]]'', ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'': Two for one, one called out, the other unintentional (it gets mocked more for [[Hypocritical Humor]], anyway).
'''Obi-Wan''': “Only a Sith deals in absolutes.” }}
== [[Literature]] ==
* A [[Sherlock Holmes]] [[Outlived Its Creator|sequel-by-other-hands]] has Holmes called upon to judge which of two violins is the one Davy Crockett played at the Alamo. He quickly identifies one as a fake, but realises {{spoiler|that he was intended to; the owner wanted him to declare ''a'' violin as genuine, and so was presenting him with the false dichotomy of "which one's the fake?" They both are.}}
* ''[[Twilight
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
*
== [[Live Action Television]] ==
* Bill O'Reilly ''often'' acts like this is the way the world works in ''[[The O
* [[The Colbert Report|Stephen Colbert]] loves this trope and takes it to the extreme, often asking questions such as "America: greatest nation in the world, or greatest nation in the universe?" When the interviewee starts to say he/she doesn't want to be quoted as saying either of those, he explains that those are the only options available: [[Twisting the Words|"So I'll put you down for 'world,' because that's not AS great as 'universe'..."]]
** He also divides the supermarket into cheese and non-cheese. Assuming that he classifies everything ''with cheese in it'' as cheese, it's a real dichotomy...but not a particularly important one except to people with allergies.▼
▲*** "George W. Bush: Great President, or The Greatest President?"
▲** He also divides the supermarket into cheese and non-cheese. Assuming that he classifies everything ''with cheese in it'' as cheese, it's a real dichotomy...but not a particularly important one.
* On ''[[Parks and Recreation]]'', Leslie tried to drum up public support for building a park by phrasing the question, "Wouldn't you rather have a park than a storage facility for nuclear waste?"
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* RPG game ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'': if you aren't a fanatic supporter of the oppressive totalitarian regime, a loyal servant of The Computer, you are a death-dealing commie mutant traitor. This one is notable because ''everyone'' in ''Paranoia'' is a commie mutant traitor at heart, so instead of there being more than two possibilities, it turns out there's only one.
** Well, some of the commie mutant traitors do love the Computer.
== [[Visual Novels]] ==
* Part of a trick played on Kyousuke in ''[[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Summed up nicely in [http://www.whatisdeepfried.com/2001/11/23/grocery-misconduct/ this Deep Fried strip.]
* The [[
** [http://xkcd.com/322/ "Pix plz"] was [http://chainsawsuit.com/2008/05/09/strip-363/ parodied by Chainsawsuit]. Note how the jerk distills Black Hat down to "[[Ad Hominem|Stalking girls]]" or "[[White Knighting]]". So if anyone calls someone online out on their misogyny, they're only doing it to get into girls' pants and/or out of some need to defend their honor. The actual ''content'' of the criticism is to be brushed aside in favor of [[Ad Hominem|allegations about the critic]]. To be fair to Straub, this is inherent in ''any'' accusation of "white knighting".
* ''Rock, Paper, Cynic'' once [http://rockpapercynic.com/index.php?date=2012-11-26 demonstrated] that while "[[Zhuangzi|Zhuang Zhou, Butterfly Philosopher]]" had a point, he failed to consider other alternatives (including "both").
* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' demonstrates an applied variety. [http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-01-05 That's what happens if you gamble on "there are only two variants"]. <ref>[[Don't Explain the Joke|explanation]]: A gene with two alleles is the simplified model you can read in a schoolbook. In reality, it's not necessarily so - for example, the gene defining blood type has 3 common alleles (A,B,O).</ref>
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''Extremely'' common in a [[Flame War]].
** In fact you can test this yourself, go to any wikia based site and bring up a commonly held but none verifiable belief, you won't have to wait long to see this kind of argument show up.
* The [[Love It or Hate It]] trope. There ''is'' a group of middle-of-the-road viewers/readers/players, but they are generally ignored. (However, the reason it's a trope in the first place is because that middle-of-the-road group is far smaller than for most fandoms.)
* A popular joke on [[YouTube]] is to comment on a video by reciting the number of "dislike" ratings the video has at the time of commenting and accusing all of them of something; common examples include "[X] people missed the 'like' button," "[X] people had no childhood," "[X] people are [[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Spoofed on ''[[South Park]]'':
{{quote|
'''Mr. Stotch''': I think you should call a doctor. I'll ground him. }}
* In the episode "Screwed the Pooch" from ''[[Family Guy]]'':
{{quote|
'''Peter:''' Uh, do I-I guess problem drinker, but that's uh-
'''Lawyer:''' Thank you. Now: "sexual deviant" or "magic picture that if you stare at it long enough, you see something"?
'''Peter:''' Well, sexual deviant, but that other one's not even, eh-
'''Lawyer:''' Thank you. }}
* In ''[[King of the Hill]]'', Hank Hill and his friends can't wrap their head around their neighbor Khan Souphanousinphone [[All Asians Are Alike|not being either Chinese or Japanese]], even after he corrects them.
{{quote|
'''Khan''': No, we are Laotian.
'''Bill''': The ocean? What ocean?
'''Khan''': From Laos, stupid! It's a landlocked country in Southeast Asia between Vietnam and Thailand, population approximately 4.7 million!
'''Hank''': ''(long pause)'' So are you Chinese or Japanese?
'''Khan''': D'oh! }}
* When [[Darkwing Duck]] is attempting to improve his PR, Nega Duck sabotages him by asking him if he's stopped digging potholes on Main Street. Caught up in the flow of questions, Darkwing answers "yes" right before realizing the nature of the question.
== Real Life ==
* There's a standard joke about someone moving to Northern Ireland and being asked by the locals if they're Protestant or Catholic: when they explain that they are in fact atheist/Buddhist/Muslim/other, the locals respond "Yes, but are you a Protestant or a Catholic atheist/Buddhist/Muslim/other?"
** Similar joke: an atheist is asked "But is it the Protestant God or that Catholic God you don't believe in?"
*** Curiously enough, there actually are people who define themselves as Catholic atheists, Muslim atheists, etc. That is to say, they follow the value-system of a religion even though they don't believe in the supernatural reasoning behind it.
*** Or they come from a Catholic/Protestant/Muslim cultural background.
** Alternate punchline to the above:
{{quote|
"Oh dear. Then I must be the unluckiest Jew in Ireland." }}
* Similar to the above, there's a story about a man who was on vacation in a foreign country when it fell into Civil War. As he's making his way to the American Embassy, a man walks up to him with a gun and says "Are you a Christian or a Muslim?" Having no idea what answer the soldier wants to hear, the man responds "I'm a tourist!"
** Sounds like [[
* [http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/What_Is_Truth_0x3f_.aspx Sometimes, however, a dichotomy is actually true.]
* Boxers or Briefs? Any time a guy is asked for his underwear preference it is always reduced to this. There are many choices now, you know, like boxer briefs, trunks, jock straps, panties, chastity belts, thongs, etc. Or [[Going Commando]]. Plus for many it is not exclusively either-or.
** Or you can point out (as Newt Gingrich did) that its maybe not the first thing you need to know about candidate for the presidency. The answer isn't useful.
{{quote|
* The famous [
** It ceases to be a paradox when you consider that the opposite ("not all Cretans are liars") does allow for some Cretans to lie, including Epimenides.
*** Unfortunately, this is not true; considering the opposite of a statement does not cause the original to become logically consistent.
*** That's just a second
* Even if Evolution could be disproven, Creationism would not automatically take its place.
** However, Creationism IS incompatible with Evolution. The true false dichotomy comes from claiming Christianity and Creationism are the same thing and therefore Christianity and Evolution are incompatible. A large majority of Christians, even in the US, think that YE Creationism is utter nonsense. The dispute isn't helped by outspoken Atheists claiming Evolution disproves religion.
* Inverted with the current (as of July 2011) spending vs taxes debate in the US. Quick primer: raising taxes and cutting spending are the ''only'' two ways to decrease debt. Both sides want to decrease debt to avoid hitting the debt ceiling. The Republicans refuse to raise taxes but they're not saying they want to cut spending. The Democrats refuse to cut spending, but they're not saying they want to raise taxes. Both act like refusing one doesn't mean they're pushing for the other, as if a magical third parameter (or fourth, counting debt) exists.
** There actually is an alternative- raising revenue without raising tax rates (when politicians and pundits speak of raising taxes
* '''Porn''' vs. '''Art''' (YMMV)
** '''Entertainment''' vs. '''Art'''
Line 107 ⟶ 116:
* "[[Heteronormative Crusader|Homophobia]]" vs [[Gay Aesop|LGBTQ support]]. Either you support gay marriage because you're gay yourself, or you're against it because you hate gay people. There's quite a good deal of in-between groups that rarely get heard from, such as "unionists" who believe gay marriage is wrong, but should not be banned because marriage is an intrinsic right.
* "All men masturbate, or else they're lying."
* Call it, [[Heads or Tails]]? *flips coin* Whups, [[Heads
* When two choices encompass all possibilities.
* Normally "[[With Us or Against Us]]" is a false dichotomy but a head of state can declare that all those not declaring themselves to be allies are to be considered enemies. Since such a declaration is performative<ref>''i.e.'', if I declare you my enemy, you are my enemy</ref> it cannot be fallacious, and thus is not itself a false dichotomy, even if the reasoning that leads someone to say that is. It's not very smart under most circumstances, however.
* Likewise, "We're at war, pick a side." is not a false dichotomy if it's your own nation that is at war -- neutrality in war is possible only for uninvolved parties. By functional definition, war is an ultimately polarizing experience.
* The dichotomy may encompass all possibilities, but neglect to allow for belonging to more than one class. This is usually due to a linguistic quirk of English where both the inclusive or (A or B or both) and exclusive or (A or B but never both, often abbreviated xor) are just or. So the statement, "Everyone reading this page is racially tolerant or a Troper," is true for an inclusive or, but not for an exclusive or. Naturally, most statements like that are misleading in general speech. See the trope [[Mathematician's Answer]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:The War On Straw]]
[[Category:Logical Fallacies]]
[[Category:False Dichotomy]]
| |||