4 ms·

> I never understand why people (especially in the US) have a desire to split everything into two opposing sides For the record, I don't think this has anythin

> I never understand why people (especially in the US) have a desire to split everything into two opposing sides For the record, I don't think this has anything to do with the U.S., false dichotomies are a more or less equally common human shorthand anywhere and anywhen that I've visited, or studied at all. I've assumed it's because people don't have time or energy to consider all the nuances of everything all the time, or the space to list them out. The brain is in many ways a device for ignoring anything that doesn't help you get food and not get eaten by a lion.

iainmerrick 3y ago
There are two types of people -- those who like to split everything into two categories, and those who believe everything exists on a continuous spectrum.
- lioeters 3y ago
  "There are two kinds of people in this world. The kind who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don’t."
- romusha 3y ago
  You split
watwut 3y ago
But, US culture is saturated by them and Americans really tend to create dichotomies much more then French or what have you. There really seems to be some dteong cultural tendency to do this.
- karaterobot 3y ago
  Would love to see some evidence for this, but okay.
  - InexSquirrel 3y ago
    Agree that evidence is appropriate, but as someone that's not in the US (NZ), we do broadly see it that way. US politics is very pervasive internationally, and you guys definitely appear to be split way more into 'left' and 'right' (as one example). Compared to NZ's politics... which is more like a blob of parties which sit pretty close the centre, and sometimes parts of the blobs move more left or more right. But naturally the dichotomy comment doesn't hold true in all circumstances.
    - Delk 3y ago
      Multi-party systems generally tend to have less of a gap between parties. Especially if no single party is strong enough to hold majority power alone in a parliamentary system, decision-making requires collaboration between multiple parties. A lot of the polarisation in US politics is probably due to the two-party system. I don't know whether or not that has anything to do with people thinking in false dichotomies in other contexts.
- amadeuspagel 3y ago
  The left-right dichotomy was developed in france.

iainmerrick 3y ago

There are two types of people -- those who like to split everything into two categories, and those who believe everything exists on a continuous spectrum.

lioeters 3y ago
"There are two kinds of people in this world. The kind who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don’t."
romusha 3y ago
You split

watwut 3y ago

But, US culture is saturated by them and Americans really tend to create dichotomies much more then French or what have you. There really seems to be some dteong cultural tendency to do this.

karaterobot 3y ago
Would love to see some evidence for this, but okay.
- InexSquirrel 3y ago
  Agree that evidence is appropriate, but as someone that's not in the US (NZ), we do broadly see it that way. US politics is very pervasive internationally, and you guys definitely appear to be split way more into 'left' and 'right' (as one example). Compared to NZ's politics... which is more like a blob of parties which sit pretty close the centre, and sometimes parts of the blobs move more left or more right. But naturally the dichotomy comment doesn't hold true in all circumstances.
  - Delk 3y ago
    Multi-party systems generally tend to have less of a gap between parties. Especially if no single party is strong enough to hold majority power alone in a parliamentary system, decision-making requires collaboration between multiple parties. A lot of the polarisation in US politics is probably due to the two-party system. I don't know whether or not that has anything to do with people thinking in false dichotomies in other contexts.
amadeuspagel 3y ago
The left-right dichotomy was developed in france.