False Dichotomies

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Got this in the right place, this time.

Everywhere I look, people seem to think that every issue has only two possible sides to it, and it has me very confused, to put it lightly.

Some examples:
Everyone acts like either you're a rape apologist or you're a slut.
Either you're a Republican who loves Jesus and guns, or you're a Democrat who loves marijuana and subsidized healthcare.

What happened to thinking that rape is bad, and promiscuity is also, separately bad?
Or believing that the government should avoid spending money while also thinking that guns have no place in domestic society?

These aren't the only examples, but they are some of the more visible when you look at the news, or peoples' preachy Facebook statuses.

Anyone think they can explain this? Because I'm lost, and it's making me angry at society.

I totally know what you mean

One I experienced bullying about is the dichotomy you're either pro-choice or a misogynist - I never ever again will voice my opinion in university again.

This maybe is TLDR but our university wanted to get rid of 60% of its books and replace it with computers so there was a group formed opposing it. But soon they got distracted with making a petition to stop a pro-life club from forming on campus - which signalled the dissolution of a focused single issue driven cause (save the library) into non-sequiteur wider unrealted issues - by turning too 'political' from a too narrow spectrum, therefore eliminating students who do not identify themselves with those poltics.

So I wrote, even though I'm shy, (and I'm actually on the fence about the issue) about the petition:
?Respectfully I must say that, no matter what my own views on abortion, I do, regardless of the petition?s claims, think it IS about free speech; pro-choice people see it as disempoerment of women but the pro-life society maybe sees it as empowerment of unborn babies rights*. They are entitled to have their view and I do not see it as an affront for their society to exist. There is nothing stopping Pro-Choice people, if they wish to, to make their own society, I do not understand why try and prevent this one from existing though. It is important to be tolerant of other?s views; even if you may not agree with them; to see it as promoting disempowering of women?s rights is only seeing it through your own lens.?

I NEVER get involved in politics for fear of aggressive responses, but their one sided attack of a society just because they do not share their views seems a violation of free speech ?left wingers have plenty of other clubs which are representing one particular view, yet only this one is attacked.
Although I tried to be as respectful and diplomatic as I could, this is what was written in response to me: ?it is ridiculous to just identify and then equate different views without examining the content and impact of those views on people in the real world. Someone may have the ?view? that black people shouldn?t have the right to vote, or that women shouldn?t vote, or that homosexually should be illegal, or, in this case, that women shouldn?t be allowed to have abortions. Do we just say that, oh well, because there are different views we can?t say which are better or worse, or humane or not?"

Needless to say, it crushed me (who is shy to speak up in the first place) to be compared to a bigot who believes black people shouldn?t vote because I was standing up for the rights of a minority opinion to EXIST as a club.

I wish I could explain because it frustrates me and makes me disgusted with politics.

Maybe it has to do with issues becoming too aligned to "parties"/"sides" that are opposite each other, so there is no room for independent consideration of the issues because it's based on stereotypes and pigeonholing.

I really hate these binaries because it cost me my only relationship because he couldn't tolerate that I am not stereotypically "left wing"

Don't do that, that's exactly what the a**holes want, to silence opposition and declare contrary opinions offensive and forbidden. It's a pervasive problem in the higher education system at the moment, The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is at the forefront of the fight, and worth your time to check out:
http://www.thefire.org/

They've basically the ACLU for college students.


You might also enjoy this, it's humorous, but has a lot of truth behind it too:
http://monsterhunternation.com/2013/09/ ... checklist/

im a pro gun democrat. I'm hated by both sides. Its lovely

Another one that bothers me:

Either you think all U.S. soldiers are heroes, or you can go right to hell, son. There's not actually a second side to this one, but it fits the extremism theme.