In Part 1, we briefly examined the prevalence of false alternatives in controversial political issues. But how do we know when false alternatives are being presented? How do we know that there are other alternatives? The clearest indication is when we actually know of real alternatives. If we are aware of an alternative that isn’t…
If we examine virtually any controversial political issue, we often find that we are presented with false alternatives. This fallacy consists of asserting that we must choose between a limited number of alternatives when other, unmentioned alternatives exist. As an example, when a Christian baker refused to bake a cake for a gay wedding, and…
A friend describes herself as liberal–she supports gay marriage, is pro-choice, and hates Donald Trump. She generally votes for Democrats, though she admits that she would have voted for John McCain if he hadn’t selected Sarah Palin as his running partner. Often, when we are discussing an issue, one of us will take a stance…