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Golden Mean Fallacy (view source)

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{{trope}}
[[File:semicontrolled_demolition.png|link=Xkcd (Webcomic)|right]]
 
{{quote|If [[CNN]] did sports reporting, every game would be a tie.|Cenk Uygur, of ''[[The Young Turks]],'' in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MQ2a032OUE this] clip.}}
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Of course, one of the hazards of this trope is that you'll end up angering ''both'' sides of the debate, who might be more interested in complaining about what they wanted but didn't get, without even acknowledging anything that they might have gained. Alternatively, an attempt to compromise too closely might result in a watered-down solution which fails to satisfy anyone or accomplish anything; sometimes, tough decisions ''do'' have to be made for good or ill. Finally, one of the sides may actually be completely right after all, and thus taking the middle road is as wrong as the opposing viewpoint.
 
Compare [[Stupid Neutral]]. Contrast with [[Take a Third Option]] and [[Both Sides Have a Point]]. Named for [[Aristotle (Creator)|Aristotle]]'s concept of virtue, which presented the golden mean as the excellent ideal of behavior. (Obviously, he didn't consider it a fallacy. Aristotle's golden mean also often ''did'' lean slightly towards excess or deficiency, rather than being precisely in the middle, and varied from situation to situation.)
 
{{examples}}
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== Films -- Animated ==
* ''[[Team America: World Police]]'' epitomizes this as far the Americans are concerned. Conservatives are "dicks" who are so aggressive that they cause as much harm as good, while liberals are "pussies" who are too wimpy to get anything done in the first place, but sometimes have to stop the "dicks" from going too far. Unlike ''[[South Park]]'', which often has a character find the golden mean, the film contrasts both opposing viewpoints with "assholes" (like terrorists or the movie's [[Big Bad]], Kim Jong-Il) who make the "dicks" necessary.
 
 
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{{quote| "It's called the gray fallacy. One person says white, another says black, and outside observers assume gray is the truth. The assumption of gray is sloppy, lazy thinking. The fact that one person is diametrically opposed to the truth does not then skew reality so the truth is no longer the truth."}}
* Embodied by the Triple Demons of Compromise from ''[[The Phantom Tollbooth]]''. One's tall and thin, one's short and fat, and the third is exactly like the other two. They are endlessly traveling in circles because the first says left, the second says right, and the third agrees with both of them. They always settle their differences by doing what none of them really want, leaving them in a permanently foul mood.
* In [[GKG. K. Chesterton]]'s ''Magic'', the Duke is prone to such flights of fancy as donating to both sides of the issue.
{{quote| '''SMITH'''. [''Turning eagerly to the_ DOCTOR.''] But this is rather splendid. The Duke's given £50 to the new public-house.<br />
'''HASTINGS'''. The Duke is very liberal.[''Collects papers.'']]<br />
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== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Law and& Order (TV)|Law and Order]]'' sometimes falls into this, with the creators admitting that their show has likely pissed off people on both sides of the aisle at some point. One notable example would be "Talking Points," which opened with someone firing on an Ann Coulter stand-in who was painted as a bigoted harridan... but then the shooter turned out to be a stem cell research advocate who was afraid that his endeavors were being poisoned by her rhetoric.
** At the end of the episode "Illegal," McCoy has finished preparing a report on whether or not a violent incident between police and protesters constituted a "police riot." He concludes that, after reading it, "both sides will be angry with me." His deputy replies, "You probably got it right, then."
* ''[[The West Wing]]'', unusually for a political show, subverts this. Since it's about the President, there's plenty of compromise, but not because it's better; it's just what can get passed by an opposing Congress. And it's not unheard-of for one side to win. The merits of moderation were a matter of some heated debate in one episode:
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** They manage, with some finagling, to get one liberal judge and one conservative judge to balance each other out, as opposed to the one moderate judge that they were arguing over. This allows for both positions to be represented while not having to settle for "moderation."
** The show also averts this in general through it's largely unapologetic embracing of a moderate-left Democratic perspective on most issues.
* In an episode of ''[[Little Mosque On the Prairie (TV)|Little Mosque Onon the Prairie]]'', Mercy's Muslim community was divided (again): the more liberal members of the congregation wanted men and women to pray together in the same room, while the more conservative members insisted that a wall be erected between the men and women's prayer spaces. Amaar, the imam, erected a wall that stretched halfway across the room, so the conservative-minded men could pray in front of it with the conservative-minded women behind it, while the liberal congregants would pray on the wall-less side of the room. Neither faction was pleased (but it was a typical ''Canadian'' solution).
* In ''[[Babylon Five5]]'', the [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|Vorlons]] has a saying claiming "Understanding is a three-edged sword". Sheridan finally vocalizes the meaning behind it in season 4 when {{spoiler|he's telling off the Vorlons and the Shadows before kicking them out of the galaxy}}. Basically, understanding has three sides: Your side, their side, and the truth.
* ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' presents most attempts at compromise as examples of this fallacy. In keeping with the series's position on the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]], it seems that we are usually meant to agree with him. This is subverted in an important instance, though, when Stacy defies House's wishes and [[Take a Third Option|takes a third option]] while he's in a coma following his enfarction, saving his leg and probably his life as well.
* This was part of Jon Stewart's show-ending rant on ''Crossfire''. The show was infamous for bringing on people of supremely dichotomous views, whom the hosts would then egg on into an argument. The thinking was that the producers were presenting the views of the mainstream public on an issue by bringing on their loudest extremists, with the public view somewhere between them. This point-of-view was the basis for Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity."
* In ''[[Community (TV)|Community]]'' episode "[[Community (TV)/Recap/S1 E06 Football Feminism and You|Football, Feminism and You]]" Jeff tries to invoke this to justify his selfish behavior involving Troy. Annie immediately calls him on it.
* In ''[[Yes Prime Minister]]'', Sir Humphrey is trying (without much success) to find an argument against a plan for banning cigarette advertising and punitive taxes on tobacco. Eventually he's reduced to "The government should not take sides." Hacker spots the fallacy at once: "You mean, impartial as between the fire engine and the fire?"
* In ''[[QI]]'', when Alan Davies talked about giving honey to bees that have been hurt in order to help them recover, Dara O'Briain responded that he would prefer to just squash it. Rob Brydon followed up with his compromise plan - drown the bee in honey.
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== Webcomics ==
* ''[[Bruno the Bandit (Webcomic)|Bruno the Bandit]]''. More about religion than politics, but the principle is the same. Atheists are pig-headed, verbally abusive, and so [[Straw Vulcan|fanatically devoted to "reason"]] that there is no amount of evidence that would convince them to change their minds, [[Flat Earth Atheist|not even a god making an appearance right in front of their eyes]]. The church is dogmatic, inflexible, and more interested in [[Corrupt Church|hoarding wealth to glorify itself]] than in practicing any of the charity it keeps preaching. Yes, thank heavens for the existence of liberal Catholi... ahem, ''[[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Ailixism]]''!
** Of course, [[Failure Is the Only Option|is anyone at all ever portrayed in a positive light in that webcomic?]]
* [http://www.idrewthis.org/d/20070815.html This comic strip] offers a wry comment on the subject.
** It also unintentionally illustrates how the [[Golden Mean Fallacy]] is frequently abused by people who are too lazy or cowardly to defend their own ideas. Say, for example, if you can just make everyone think that "their" beliefs are inherently wrong (like, say, [[Deliberately Bad Example|equating an opposing viewpoint to blending kittens]]), you don't have to explain why ''yours'' are right.
* Also parodied in [http://xkcd.com/690/ this] ''[[Xkcd (Webcomic)|Xkcd]]'' cartoon. And directly called out in [http://xkcd.com/774/ this] one.
* This is how politics works in ''[[Sore Thumbs (Webcomic)|Sore Thumbs]]''.
* ''[[Dinosaur Comics (Webcomic)|Dinosaur Comics]]'' Presents: [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=216 Logical Fallacy Comics]
* Abe from [[Thinkin Lincoln (Webcomic)|Thinkin' Lincoln]] [http://www.thinkin-lincoln.com/index.php?strip_id=112 tries to find some middle ground.]
* ''[[Jesus and Mo]]'' have reached [http://www.jesusandmo.net/2010/11/16/sober/ that precarious and profound middle ground between being extremely drunk and extremely sober].
 
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