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False Dichotomies

By Peter Lloyd

When I was a Boy Scout, I was trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. Well, at least I tried my best to be. Now that I consider myself creative, I am dynamic, conscious, healthy, non-defensive, open, integrated, observant, caring, collaborative, androgynous, developing, and brave. Wait a minute! Androgynous? Hold on a second.

book coverIn the third part of her book, Everyday Creativity, Ruth Richards listed a version of those twelve qualities, each of which completes the sentence, “When I am creative, I am...”

Maybe she went too far. She was trying, I suppose, to reinforce the idea that gender-based role assignments constitute a false dichotomy. That is, the fallacy that you and I have but two options with regard to gender—to be clearly male or female in our behavior, dress, and on our passports.

photoObviously not. The bilingual, self-described male lesbian Eddie Izzard rests my case, more than adequately and hilariously. Eddie should remind you to look for false dichotomies everywhere, but especially in problem solving.

On the other end of the spectrum (with many colors in between), you’ll find short-sighted knuckleheads and devious demagogues employing false dichotomies. The short-sighted because they don’t know any better or lack the industry to search for alternatives between two obvious choices. The demagogues, intentionally, in pursuit of their foul ends, as in, “Either you are with us, or you are with them.”

Every time you face two choices, neither of which attracts or satisfies you, you may be overlooking a host of choices in between or on the far side of the two you have considered. False dichotomies haunt the courtroom, “The witness has lied, so how can we believe what she says now.” The classroom, “A, B, C, or None of the Above.” And the campaign trail, “The candidate has changed positions, therefore can never be trusted to...” I admire someone whose opinions evolve. I distrust anyone who cannot mature his positions. That’s the whole point, isn’t it? Why do we open our mouths but to raise our awareness?

Any exercise in solution-finding, such as a brainstorming session, should always be an exercise in openness to unfamiliar and even dangerous ideas. Whenever you hear an idea that strikes you as off the mark in an ideation session, don’t let yourself give it a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Stretch it, flip it, mutilate it, exaggerate it, shrink it, expand it, take in back and forth in time and space... you know the drill.

And the next time you hear, “You’re either part of the solution or part of the problem,” know that you’re dealing with someone limited to or smoking you with simplistic, black-and-white thinking. The creative thinker easily sees more than two alternatives to any choice. Show them your stuff.

Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.

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