Ted Rall for May 02, 2022

The fallacy of the excluded middle applies to a LOT of political speech. Of course independent thought is harder than it sounds, starting from: “Where do you get your basic facts to start from?”

Savvy Genius, or Stable Genius?

Hooray! You can choose both!

Just like Ted.

Nievely stupid or? Well..

Scylla or Charybdis, you have to choose!

Followers of Jesus teachings, or christians.

The guy who got tired in the 4th panel and split is Rall’s readership.

I’ll take Biden over the right-wing populism of Beetle Bailey-Level Intelligence, Friedbird waterpistol, patrick murphy, loony squiggles, montana bill, rikitikirussianbot, klemubermoron, ammosexuallydysfunctional, opspecial ed, JAwholikesbluegrass, jane b thinkin’ VERY ignorantlee, 60 rottenbuzzardbrains adhered to a scorching sidewalk, sammy ugly avatar, leonarddonk any day of the week and twice on Tuesdays.

We’re f’d no matter what so what does our choice matter, right?

Up here in Canada we have four or five parliamentary parties: the Liberals, some version of the Conservatives, the New Democrats, the Bloc Quebecois, and a couple of Greens. Occasionally there’s another party or two and one or two independents. Sometimes this system works better than the US two-party system, sometimes not. Party discipline is strict here, so there’s not much chance for a junior MP to stake out an independent position. Only the Liberals and the Conservatives ever form a federal government. The NDP has never formed a federal government, though it does form provincial governments from time to time, but the federal NDP does have some influence, especially if there’s a minority Liberal government, as there is now, because the Liberals need NDP support so they don’t lose a vote of confidence; the NDP said to the Liberals, You have to do X and Y and Z or else we will vote non-confidence. There are lots more complications—I won’t even get started on the Bloc. Does it work better than the US system? Hard to say. I’m happy to have the NDP to articulate a slightly left of liberal position.

I seem to have chosen to live in the gray. More independence.

That kind of thinking is a big problem. Unfortunately when I try explain the logical fallacy being employed, people on both sides of politics lack the ability and/or desire to understand. Which demonstrates what I consider to be a indicator of a person being a bad American…choosing willful deliberate ignorance.

The dishonesty of tRump’s fascism, or the dishonesty of Sander’s socialism? I chose Biden’s honesty.

Thank you, Ted. It’s amazing how much Americans demand simple solutions—mere bromides—to complex situations.

Most problems people face sit on a continuum from simple to complicated. Some easy, some hard, all solvable with available solutions. It’s usually a matter of will and investment.

But some problems are complex. They’re not solvable with known solutions. They have multiple parts and multiple variables. New ideas, new approaches are needed. We often need to try small, safe-to-fail experiments to see what will help and what won’t. And we usually can’t see the outcome from where we are; we have to move and to act.

Instead, we just sit in a metaphorical arena, shouting “Tastes Great” or “Less Filling” at each other. Republicans think Democrats are impractical while Democrats come off as weak. Republicans look maniacal and ignorant and come off as rigid and ignorant.

None of this moves the country forward.

Yep. Binary boneheadedness is a poison that taints discourse in every realm.

To quote Rush (or Neil Peart)

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice

OK, I actually kinda like this one…

We invite you to make any meaningless choice but we would like you to be as excited as possible about it.