History Main / GoldenMeanFallacy

Compare StupidNeutral. Contrast with TakeAThirdOption and BothSidesHaveAPoint.

* The Zadie Smith novel ''Literature/WhiteTeeth'', which in part deals with the challenges faced by first- and second-generation Muslim immigrants (most of them from South Asia) in 1980s London, adds an interesting ethnic/cultural dimension to the "false-moderation" theme. These immigrants are caught between two adversarial European forces: anti-immigrant native Britons who harass them with insults and even violent attacks (in other words, being too right-wing) and Europeans both native and immigrant themselves who have been steeped in the "decadent" late-20th-century Western lifestyle (in other words, being too ''left''-wing) [[note]] not that there isn't some overlap, of course, as there are some characters who are both [[GoodFlawsBadFlaws bigoted and sexually promiscuous]] [[/note]]. The Muslims don't generally bother to determine which is which, and indeed seem to conflate the two camps much of the time - which is both unfair and counterproductive [[FridgeLogic when you factor in that]] the "decadent" Britons are often the South Asians' best friends precisely because of their cultural tolerance, while the xenophobic Britons would probably ''[[EnemyMine agree]]'' with the Asians they so despise about the shameful decadence of modern Western society precisely because of their bigotry. In any case, the Muslims [[SurroundedByIdiots think of themselves as the only decent people in the midst of a society gone mad]]...even though even the "good" ones (including one of the book's protagonists) seem a little too quick to jump to the defense of the Keepers of the Eternal and Victorious Islamic Nation (KEVIN), a glorified street gang and vigilante group willing to resort to [[CulturePolice book-burning]] and [[MurderIsTheBestSolution much worse]] to enforce their moral standards on all those "demonic" right-wing and left-wing white Britons. One of the book's major points is that in a multicultural and permissive society nobody is perfect, and tolerance should be the order of the day as long as people do not express their views violently.

* This trope is discussed in GK Chesterton's non-fiction book "What's Wrong With The World" where he complains that too many people refuse to argue for what they actual believe and instead argue for what they believe is an acceptable compromise..which he compares to a man being forced to walk the plank by pirates arguing to walk a length of the plank that's acceptable to both parties.

** "[[https://xkcd.com/2898/ Orbital Argument]]" is about how annoying it is when someone applying this is RightForTheWrongReasons, giving the examples of "the Sun and the Earth orbit a common centre"[[note]]In orbital mechanics, both the parent body and the satellite technically orbit the point at which each body's gravity cancels the other's out. This normally isn't noticeable unless the satellite is a significant fraction of the mass of the parent: Jupiter is so massive that its barycenter with the Sun is located slightly outside the Sun's radius, whereas the Moon's barycenter with Earth is only a quarter of Earth's radius away from its center.[[/note]] and (in the AltText) "light is both a wave and a particle".[[note]]a basic fact of quantum mechanics[[/note]]

** "[[https://xkcd.com/2898/ Orbital Argument]]" is about how annoying it is when someone applying this is RightForTheWrongReasons, giving the examples of "the Sun and the Earth orbit a common centre"[[note]]In orbital mechanics, both the parent body and the satellite technically orbit the point at which each body's gravity cancels the other's out. This normally isn't noticeable unless the satellite is a significant fraction of the mass of the parent: Jupiter is so massive that its barycenter with the Sun is located slightly outside the Sun's radius, whereas the Moon's barycenter with Earth is only a quarter of Earth's radius.[[/note]] and (in the AltText) "light is both a wave and a particle".[[note]]a basic fact of quantum mechanics[[/note]]

** "[[https://xkcd.com/2898/ Orbital Argument]]" is about how annoying it is when someone applying this is RightForTheWrongReasons, giving the examples of "the Sun and the Earth orbit a common centre" and (in the AltText) "light is both a wave and a particle".

%%** And directly called out in [[http://xkcd.com/774/ this]] one.
%%** Crops up [[http://xkcd.com/1292/ again]] when pi is compared to tau.

->'''Kang:''' (''disguised as Bob Dole'') Abortions for all!\\

* Miller Lite Beer had a series of commercials in the 1990s where two groups of people would be arguing over what sport to watch on TV, only for someone to resolve the argument by hitting the TV with a bottle of Miller Lite, which somehow turned on a show that combined the two concepts. Examples included "Bassball" (A combination of bass fishng and baseball) and "Full Contact Golf" (A combination of golf and football).

* Website/{{Reddit}}:
** Parodied in [[https://www.reddit.com/r/dirtbagcenter/ r/dirtbagcenter]], which is generally centrists making fun of themselves by embracing the Golden Mean Fallacy or insisting that two sides of a debate are exactly the same.
** Played straight in [[https://www.reddit.com/r/ENLIGHTENEDCENTRISM/ r/ENLIGHTENEDCENTRISM]], which is a more left-leaning subreddit than r/dirtbagcenter which uses the fallacy to make fun of centrists.

* ''VideoGame/ATotalWarSagaTroy'': The ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' franchise fandom, with some overlap, is divided between pro-history and pro-fantasy sections, a divide created by the ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'' trilogy. The design philosophy of Troy tried to thread the needle between both sections and typically pleased neither with their "Truth Behind the Myth" approach to the Trojan War, with mythical monsters being represented by essentially people in suits. Conversations on Website/{{Reddit}} often boiled down to wishing it was an actual historical game, or went all in like ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'', eventually resulting in the ''Mythos'' ExpansionPack adding in both modes.

--> "It's called the gray fallacy. One person says white, another says black, and outside observers assume gray is the truth. The assumption of gray is sloppy, lazy thinking. The fact that one person is diametrically opposed to the truth does not then skew reality so the truth is no longer the truth."

[[caption-width-right:320:What did you expect? [[ComicallyMissingThePoint You didn't explain what happened to the Pentagon]]!]]

* Miller Lite Beer had a series of commercials in the 90s where two groups of people would be arguing over what sport to watch on TV, only for someone to resolve the argument by hitting the TV with a bottle of Miller Lite, which somehow turned on a show that combined the two concepts into one show.

# ... one of the two options is concretely and factually true while the other is false. For example, some say cyanide is a lethal and dangerous poison for people and should never be consumed (unless you want to die). The opposite position would be that cyanide is nutritious and beneficial to your health and should be consumed frequently. The Golden Mean Fallacy would state that cyanide should therefore be consumed in moderation. But cyanide is really a lethal poison and should not be ingested, not even in moderation!

# ... while achievable, it is morally unacceptable or unsatisfying for one or both parties (although that may depend on the context and the values involved), or brings more trouble than the two options. For example, two parents disapprove the current boyfriend of their daughter because he is poor, and they want her to marry the spoiled son of a rich family. She instead wants to live her own life without being forced to an arranged marriage with people she doesn't want even to talk to. The Golden Mean Fallacy would be letting the girl choose among a selection of candidates approved by her parents. But this could still leave her unhappy because she has to break with the one she loves and marry someone who is the LesserOfTwoEvils!

One "benefit" of the Golden Mean Fallacy is not having to pick a side. It's easier to simply declare both sides to be at fault and present yourself as the reasonable middle-ground between them. That way you get to feel superior to twice as many people, and at the same time avoid excessively alienating any of them.

Note again that this trope is not saying that moderate compromises are always wrong. Sometimes an option somewhere in between two polar opposites really ''is'' the best choice; this trope is when the author claims or assumes the best choice ''must'' be found in the middle. In other words, it is [[TakeAThirdOption taking the third option]] every time, and the opposite of the FalseDichotomy.

In conclusion, one should use neither the False Dichotomy nor the Golden Mean Fallacy, but rather [[{{Irony}} find a logical medium between the two.]]