The False Dichotomy

[Talon]

I'll admit the term "False Dichotomy" isn't something that's part of my normal lexicon. At least until last summer. I accidentally stumbled across some excellent youtube videos debunking the claims of Young-Earth Creationists. If anyone's interested, the channels are Thunderf00t's series "Why Do People Laugh at Creationists?" and AronRa's "Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism".

I've probably heard the term before, but watching those videos made it stick. Basically, a false dichotomy is a situation where only two alternatives are considered, when there are in fact other options. In other words, "If you're not with me, you're against me." Or "If you're not a Republican then you must be a Democrat." "If any one aspect of the Theory of Evolution can't be 100% verified, then the entire theory is wrong."

I've seen the false dichotomy in political debates. I recently witnessed it, when I admitted to my mother I didn't believe in prayer or divine intervention. She accused me of "only believing in myself". Another false dichotomy, with a side of non-sequitur.

I think that the false dichotomy is quite possibly one of the greatest enemies of reason and logic.

[guywithashovel]

Thunderf00t is awesome. I follow him on Youtube, and I have watched most of his work. He really does a good job at wiping the floor with the anti-science people who skulk around in our society.

The whole political false dichotomy gets to me, too. I'm a little unclear as to how to classify myself politically. I support gun rights, though I don't have a problem with background checks for people buying guns, and I don't have a problem with convicted felons not being allowed to purchase firearms. I'm not sure how I feel about universal healthcare. I really don't like abortion, but at the same time, I worry that making it illegal would be as effective as solving our abortion problems as Prohibition was at solving our alcohol problems. In other words, I worry that a ban on abortion would simply make the matter worse. Of course, that simply cannot be discussed with any of these "pro-life" people. As soon as they hear anything along the lines of "maybe it shouldn't be made illegal," they fly off the handle and start screaming "BABY KILLER!!!! BABY KILLER!!!! BABY KILLER!!!!"

Also, I tend to oppose the death penalty for two reasons. First, it's very expensive. Sentencing a convict to life in prison is often less expensive than a death sentence. Second, I honestly think life in prison is a more severe punishment than execution. Take a look at how people live in prison. They live in a cell that is usually about 9ft x 6ft, and they often have to share that with another person. They have to eat when they are told to, eat WHAT they are told to, sleep when they are told to, shower when they are told to, exercise when they are told to, and they have to put up with other inmates who possibly want to beat them up, kill them, or rape them. I can honestly say I'd rather take lethal injection than live the rest of my life like that.

Under no circumstances do I support the banning/burning/etc. of books, movies, music, or any other forms of expression. Likewise, I do not support restrictions of any kind on what TV and radio stations can put on the air. At the moment, broadcast stations cannot have most types of profanity on the air during certain times of the day. This restriction should not be in place, IMHO.

I do support the Separation of Church and State. I really do think that religious symbols should not be put on public property nor on our money. But at the same time, I don't make too big of a deal about them. As for "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, I just take it one step further and say that we shouldn't even have a "pledge of allegiance." What free country asks its citizens to take a "pledge of allegiance," anyway?

I'll stop there, since this post has the potential to hijack this thread completely.

[Talon]

The point I was trying to make was the false dichotomy is the enemy to all forms of reason, in any arena. Be it scientific, political, hell even in our personal lives.

As soon as they hear anything along the lines of "maybe it shouldn't be made illegal," they fly off the handle and start screaming "BABY KILLER!!!! BABY KILLER!!!! BABY KILLER!!!!"

So who's killing the babies? Aren't the mothers the ones who are requesting the abortions?

Someone on youtube actually interviewed some prolifers and asked them, if they think abortion is murder, shouldn't the mothers be prosecuted? The blank looks on the prolifers' faces said it all. Their entire narrative depends on treating women as helpless victims of evil godless doctors and society. Their little set of Goodfacts(tm), as opposed to realfacts.

[guywithashovel]

On another message board I sometimes go to, some pro-life woman said that abortion was simply "another form of male oppression," since women were being "pressured" into getting abortions. Gimme a break! People just never cease to find ways to blame their problems on other people.

But in any sense, I guess I did sway away from the original topic a bit---sorry. The fallacy of the false dichotomy does seem to be a common logical mishap. Here's a real doozy I heard one time in a political debate.

"You can be a Christian, or you can be a Socialist. You cannot be both."

It's enough to make one's head spin.

[Talon]

Here's another one, from our own CS boards.

If you're German you can't be Jewish. *facepalm*

[Ghel]

This reminds me of a hymn we used to sing in church (back when I still went to church): "If God is for us, who can be against?"

[Slytovhand]

I'm obviously not sure of your opinion polls outside of Oz, but I've gone through a couple, and they have this bad tendency to base their questions on a 2 party preferred voting, or which of these 2 leaders would you prefer as PM. Fortunately, when such polls are announced, they tend to add the "...in a 2 party preferred poll" line.

But it just sucks that any opinion that doesn't fall into either of those 2 doesn't count.

[Flyndaran]

You're either for false dichotomies or you aren't.

I think that was an overused but effective tactic of the american republican party. Having complex opinions didn't help Gore or Kerry, that's for sure.

[Slytovhand]

Damn... why didn't I think of that one???