History Main / TheDitherer

* ''Film/MarsAttacks:'' The President's first scene has him going around the Oval Office asking everyone (two generals, his Press Secretary and his wife) their opinion on what to do, rather than making up his own mind about the Martians.

But there are also people who struggle with ''all'' decisions. Don't ask them what they want for dinner unless you have an entire day free in your calendar. Don't make them pick which film you're going to see, because, by the time they've decided (reluctantly) which one to pick, the cinema will have closed.

All except the Wishy-Washy and "Just Plain Lazy" types have a degree of sympathy, but in societies that value self-direction and assertiveness, the inability to make decisions quickly is A Bad Thing[[{{Tradesnark}} ™]], a hallmark of immaturity or lack of character. Societies that favor thought and reason, however, tend to be more sympathetic, as long as it is clear the Ditherer is ''really'' thinking about it and not dodging the issue.

* '''Too-Many-Trees''': They see all sides of the issue, and can't stop weighing the pros and cons long enough to make an actual decision. Also, they're getting way too obsessed with the minor details while losing sight of the overall goal or plan. Likely to overlap with the Empathic type.

* Rodimus Prime from the third season of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' is an Insecure/Submissive-type. As the ChosenOne and bearer of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership following the death of Optimus Prime in ''[[WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie]]'', Rodimus is painfully aware of the [[ChainsOfCommanding responsibility he bears]] and how his LeeroyJenkins antics from when he was merely Hot Rod will have far more serious consequences now that he's leader of the faction. [[DependingOnTheWriter At times]], he's so desperate to escape his responsibilities that he leaps at any chance to give up leadership, like when he immediately ceded command to a revived Optimus Prime despite evidence [[CameBackWrong something was wrong with him]] [[note]] On that occasion, the [[AbusivePrecursors Quintessons]] partially revived Optimus in a plot against the Autobots [[/note]].

* In '''Regeneration One''' by IDW Comics (which is an alternate continuation of ComicBook/TheTransformers that ignores the events of Marvel's Generation Two comics), Optimus Prime has become a particularly pathetic Wishy-Washy type. Following the destruction of Unicron and the exile of the Decepticons under Bludgeon, Optimus has taken to sitting in his own tower and is content to let The Last Autobot (an immensely powerful Transformer who helped exile the Decepticons by bringing '''the entire massacred Autobot army back to life''') act as a deterrent. Even when Kup brings evidence that a group of "Neo-Decepticons" are trying to stir up trouble, Optimus refuses to make any sort of decision. As a result of his dithering, the Decepticons seize control of an orbital defense satellite and use it to atomise the Last Autobot. Worse, in the 20 plus years since the Decepticons were exiled, it's revealed Optimus never bothered to check in on Earth. When Kup and his team arrive on Earth, they find the planet in ruins and most of humanity wiped out at the hands of Megatron.
** It gets worse when it's revealed that Megatron kept Ratchet (the Autobot chief medical officer and Optimus Prime's old friend) in a horrific state of half-death and used his medical knowledge to lobotomise the many comatose Transformers who were left aboard the Autobot spacecraft the Ark (both Autobot and Decepticon) into a zombie army. All because Optimus refused to accept that there could be any evil left after Unicron.

* One of the band members in ''Series/HalloSpencer''. Typical quote: "Well, on the one hand... but on the other hand..."

* Both Jeff Winger and Britta Perry from ''Series/{{Community}}'' meet this trope in slightly different ways:

* RealLife: The hallmark of "Perceivers" in the UsefulNotes/MyersBriggs personality test, as opposed to the decisive "Judgers." Perceivers usually have the too-many-trees version.

* People with generalized anxiety disorder often have trouble making decisions under the too-many-trees variant because they fear making the wrong choice.

* In ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'' this is the biggest flaw of Gyurie, stretching back all the way to the fall of the ancient civilization. He can never bring himself to make a decision when it really counts and so can only sit on the sidelines and watch as things fall apart. He is so consistent in this behavior that despite being literally the strongest being on the planet, he is also one of the least important individuals in deciding its fate.

* In '''Regeneration One''' by IDW Comics (which is an alternate continuation of ComicBook/TheTransformers that ignores the events of Marvel's Generation Two comics), Optimus Prime has become a particularly pathetic Wishy-Washy type. Following the destruction of Unicron and the exile of the Decepticons under Bludgeon, Optimus has taken to sitting in his own tower and is content to let The Last Autobot (an immensely powerful Transformer who helped exile the Decepticons by bringing '''the entire massacred Autobot army back to life''') act as a deterrent. Even when Kup brings evidence that a group of "Neo-Decepticons" are trying to stir up trouble, Optimus refuses to make any sort of decision. As a result of his dithering, the Decepticons seize control of an orbital defense satellite and use it to atomise the Last Autobot. Worse, in the 20 plus years since the Decepticons were exiled, Optimus never bothered to check in on Earth. When Kup and his team arrive on Earth, they find the planet in ruins and most of humanity wiped out at the hands of Megatron.
** It gets worse when it's revealed that Megatron kept Ratchet (the Autobot chief medical officer and Optimus Prime's old friend) in a horrific state of half-death and used his medical knowledge to lobotomise the many comatose Transformers who were left aboard the Autobot spacecraft the Ark into a zombie army. All because Optimus refused to accept that there could be any evil left after Unicron.

* In [[Franchise/TransformersGeneration1 The Transformers]], this is generally the problem with the combiners (if they aren't completely insane). Generally, the combined mode can only take action if it's something all the component Transformers can agree on, and so some combiners opt to suppress the personalities of their components. Some specific examples:
** The Combaticon combiner Bruticus is explicitly a Ditz-erer. When given orders, he'll carry them out to the extent of his ability and so he's considered a model soldier. Unfortunately, when no one is around to give him orders he's prone to just stand by, even in the middle of a firefight.

* '''I Can't See The Forest, There Are Too Many Trees''': They see all sides of the issue, and can't stop weighing up pros and cons. Likely to overlap with the Empathic type.

* There's a Creator/IsaacAsimov short story (whose title escapes me) of a General who had to make the best use of "sub-par" individuals. One example is of a chronically indecisive character who is tasked with making the decision on peace negotiations. He pairs him up with a paranoiac who is tasked with pointing out all the possible flaws in the options in front of him. The idea was that only the optimal solution would have ''no'' flaws for the paranoic to pick at and so there would be nothing else to choose (apparently the idea that negotiations would never end was ruled out).
** Nor the idea that even the best solution might have some flaws, just less so than the others.

'''Onboard computer:''' [[AC:Steering to prevent an accident?]]\\

* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'': Italy ({{Cloudcuckoolander}}[=/=]Insecure type) doesn't like being in any authoritative or decision-making position -- he leaves that to Germany. Japan ([[TheEmpath Empathic]][=/=]Insecure) prefers just to follow whatever the superpower ''du jour'' wants to do.

* ''{{Manga/Kimagure Orange Road}}'': Making decisions isn't one of Kasuga's PsychicPowers.

* ''[[FanFic/EakinsHardReset Hard Reset]]'' shows Twilight 'coping' with the results of the story, and breaking down into a Too Many Trees[=/=]ShellShockedVeteran version of this.

* In ''FanFic/AMillionMilesOfFun'', [[ArcVillain Zaheer]] is that guy who takes his sweet time ordering, for reasons that seem closest to "can't see the forest; too many trees." It's implied that this is par for the course for him.

* During the 2004 United States presidential election, the Republicans characterized Bush as "the decider" who makes tough decisions and sticks with them, while characterizing Kerry as a "flip-flopper" who keeps changing his mind. Some supporters would helpfully illustrate their point by carrying flip-flop sandals to rallies.

* Wembley on ''Series/FraggleRock'' is the Insecure/Submissive version. In fact, his name is used InUniverse as a verb for indecisiveness.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* ''[[FanFic/EakinsHardReset Hard Reset]]'' shows Twilight 'coping' with the results of the story, and breaking down into a Too Many Trees / ShellShockedVeteran version of this.

* Carly, one of the subjects to Jigsaw's traps in ''Film/{{Jigsaw}}'', was a purse snatcher who let a woman she stole from to suffer an asthma attack and die. She could have saved her (as she was only a few feet away), but she instead chose to run away with a whopping $3.53. She then is told that she was injected with poison and to choose between one of three needles to cure her: antidote, saline solution or ''acid'' or they will all hang. It's implied that she knows which one is the correct answer [[spoiler: to not choose the one with a [[IronicEcho 3.53]] number on it]], but is too frightened/freaked out to do so and as [[spoiler: the chains around her and the other subjects' necks begin to pull upwards, another subject, Ryan, '''injects all three syringes into her.''' They are freed, but [[LaserGuidedKarma she painfully bleeds out and dies for her troubles.]]]]

A person of one of these types may occupy The Conflicted position in a FourPhilosophyEnsemble. In a choice between [[WithUsOrAgainstUs siding with good or evil]], a neutral character will have a problem which side is preferable, especially if he's looking for personal benefits. Because of his indecision to morally shift, this will cause both sides to no longer to sympathize with him and will give him the NeutralityBacklash.

* Michael Scott of [[Series/TheOfficeUS The Office]] is, depending on the individual decision and the particular point in the series, some combination of all of the types listed above, save the "can't see the forest, there are too many trees" one.

* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'': Chidi, mainly of the "can't see the forest for the trees" variety. Flashbacks show that he is unable to make even the simplest decisions, from picking teams for soccer to ordering at a restaurant because he's terrified of how it can be perceived, how he will be judged and the consequences and it costs him relationships, jobs, and friends. It's his FatalFlaw, [[spoiler:literally, as it turns out; he died when he was crushed by an air conditioner [[DeathFromAbove falling down on his head]] while deciding what to do. The first season finale also reveals that this is why he's in the Bad Place as his constant inability to make any decisions made everyone around him miserable]]. In the Season 2 finale, he is given a test to simply make a decision between two hats. He [[spoiler:is told he failed and when he asks why, the judge snaps "It took you ''eighty-two minutes'' to ''pick a hat!"'']]

'''Judge''': There was no "right one"! They're hats, come on, man!