Many of us were bludgeoned with the
false dichotomy during the last election cycle: “Failing to vote for X is a
vote for Y.” Because I swim in conservative waters, I was assaulted with “If
you don’t vote for Trump, it’s a vote for Hillary.” That’s a false dichotomy. I
had other options. I didn’t have to choose between a corrupt candidate and a
debased candidate, despite what my Facebook friends kept trying to tell me. I
proved the dichotomy false in the voting booth when I cast my vote for a third
party, and neither of the supposedly binary options got my vote.
Now
the false dichotomy is rearing its ugly head again. I’m being told that if I
condemn Antifa, then I’m supporting neo-Nazis. I have to remain silent about
the lawlessness and violence to which Antifa is committed, or I’m branded a
white supremacist. Well, I didn’t fall for that fallacy in the election, and I’m
not falling for it now. There’s a third option – I can condemn both groups as
evil and dangerous. I don’t have to choose between the vile, hateful racists
and the violent, lawless criminals. I can (and do) say “A pox on both your
houses.” I don’t have to take sides in the raging uncivil war between armed
camps of extremists.
Here’s why I hate this particular
false dichotomy: If people are pushed to believe that they must choose sides
here, some people will. Some borderline racists, who might otherwise keep their
mouths shut, will be pushed into the waiting arms of the white supremacists.
And some gullible students steeped for four years of college in the propaganda
of the extreme left will decide to join Antifa. After all, who wants to support
neo-Nazis? And if you don’t support Antifa, then you’re supporting the white
supremacists, or so some would have us believe.
This is a dangerous game our elites,
especially in the media, are playing. In trying to stamp out the false idea of
white supremacy, they’re refusing to condemn lawlessness and violence on the
extreme left. Worse, they’re trying to bully the rest of us into taking sides
and supporting the criminal enterprise that is Antifa. Well, I’m not buying it.
Say what you like, but I’m not taking sides between these two tiny camps of
despicable extremists. I reject them both, and I won’t be cowed into remaining
silent. Even though I did not vote for President Trump, I’m glad that he has
condemned in explicit terms both the hateful white supremacists and the violent
criminals on the extreme left who clashed in Charlottesville and temporarily
turned that quiet college town into a killing field. Both sides deserve
condemnation, and both will have it from me.
