American Politics And The False Dilemma Fallacy
A false dilemma is a logical fallacy, in which only two choices are presented in a situation. For example, a fundamentalist christian might believe that atheists are inherently immoral, because the only option other than accepting his religion, is to be an awful person. This is a false dilemma, because the fundamentalist doesn't believe people can exist outside of that dichotomy. When it comes to American politics, many understand them as a binary, with democrats on one side, and republicans on the other. Instead of understanding that these are simply two political parties, with somewhat specific goals and platforms, a lot of people believe them to be the two ends of the spectrum, unaware that ideologies exist between them, and outside of them. Naturally, the people who have this very basic understanding of politics, limit themselves in forming individual opinions on issues. Not only do they choose a side, as if it were a competitive sport, but they adhe...