Might as well accept it, as however you cut it you’ll eventually come to realise that there are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those who understand binary, and those who don’t.
Systems are not the sum of the individual actors who participate in them. Systems can influence and even control individuals back. Therefore, individual flaws in character or intellect are necessary, but not adequate to explain why systems are flawed.
Consider the future imagined in the movie "Idiocracy 2005". Society is collapsing because people are dumb. This is the explanation for all problems in that society. Capitalism, Resource extraction, environmental degradation, political corruption, and a rather authoritarian government are all blameless. The implication is that capitalism an authoritarianism are good if we could just be smart about it.
This is a big difference between left and right thinking. Republicans argue problems can be solved by reforming individuals; the police are good, there are just a few bad apples. Or that the right individual, at the helm of a system, can clean up all the issues with strength and resolve. This is the central pitch for supporting Trump.
Republicans argue problems can be solved by reforming individuals; the police are good, there are just a few bad apples.
An odd thing to say, as the saying is that "A few bad apples spoil the whole crop". I think they're trying to say that that "The police is an overall force for good because the isolated cases do not dictate the whole". The saying is the exact opposite.
I read this as you saying OP's claim was a fallacy but a re-read (and small dive into what type of Xerox you are) makes me beleive you meant binary thinking itself is a logical fallacy
That’s an interesting thought. Thinking doesn’t have to be binary, but ultimately an action is: you either do it or you don’t. There could be 5 possible actions (including inaction) but whichever one you choose is a binary action (you either do it, or you don’t)
I think you're falsely categorizing action as binary thinking and supporting OP's thought. Say I want to help people with some extra money - I have $100 (in singles) to give and 5 people in need. I'm not locked into "giving or not giving" or stuck giving to 1 person and not giving to 4 people. I can give everyone $20 evenly. I can $10 to one and $90 to another. I can give $5, $15, $25, $25, and $30 to them based on apparent need. I can give $0. Dividing this up into 5 individual binary actions... Actually, 100 individual actions (each dollar), dishonestly represents the overall opportunity and outcome.
And that's just for one case where it's a zero-sum game with my limited pot of $100. That's a prime type of case where some majority groups would beleive anything not directly given to them is, effectively, taken from them - more binary thinking. That doesn't account for status change, further income, and understand that social welfare budgets are insanely smaller than the gratuitous budgets of other departments.
You just proved what I was saying though. The thought doesn’t have to be binary. You have a multitude of choices. But the moment you make an action, that is binary. You either do that specific action or not.