Month: October 2016

So, yesterday I asked for a ceasefire on false dichotomies. Today, I'd like to discourage a myth of responsibility in the upcoming election. Here it goes again: If you don't vote for Candidate-X, you're voting for Candidate-Y. Maybe you didn't fall for the whole false dilemma thing from the last post. That's fine. Let me tell you a story. It was 15 years ago, and I was picking up my notebooks and shoving them into my polyester messenger bag. (I didn't say it was an interesting story.) Class had ended, and all the graduate students were engaged in the liturgy of leaving the classroom. I was wondering about coffee when my Philosophy professor interrupted the exodus. "Don't confuse causation with association!" He offered it as a valediction. Since it was the last…

A false dichotomy is a powerful tool, one that our old fiction friend Jack Bauer often used. "You only have two choices here: let me torture him mercilessly or let the world explode..." or something to that effect. There are true dichotomies. If you only have a standard light switch in the room it's either on or off. No cuts, no buts, no coconuts. It's even helpful at times to point it out - especially to children who like to play with light switches: "It's either on or off!" But political decisions (or most complex decisions) are not so clear-cut. For the most part when it comes to politics there are a multitude of options. Don't give into the false dichotomy. The person using this logical ploy is trying to…