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2%% Remember: Examples are Not General.
3%% Do not add Morton's Fork examples for general ideas, like "being in X kind of relationship" or "having quality X."
4%% In order for an example to be added, it must be an individual moment or historical event.
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6[[MortonsFork Morton's Forks]] in real life.
7----
8* The trope namer, Morton's Fork, named after John Morton by Sir Francis Bacon -- if one was living lavishly, then one was presumed to have the assets to support it, while if one was living frugally, one was assumed to have a suitable nest egg saved as a result. Either way, you're getting taxed. The attempts to wring every penny out of the nobility proved so unpopular that immediately after his accession the young Henry VIII was forced to execute two of his father's advisors[[note]]Not Morton himself; Henry wasn't quite up to cutting off bishops' heads yet... although some historians argue that Empson and Dudley's beheadings were [[StartOfDarkness a sign of things to come]].[[/note]] to prevent a revolt. The historical circumstances of this are important. Henry VII had just finished a very expensive war to get hold of the Crown and was nearly broke. The use of the Fork was to transfer a large portion of the wealth of the nobles to his own coffers. It worked, and he became the richest man in England by a substantial margin.
9* The concept of euthenasia versus prolonging someone's life. Either one results in the patient being in a position where they can no longer enjoy life comfortably and end up dying regardless. The only difference is whether it happens now or if it's delayed.
10* UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc's trial involved several in an attempt to ensure her condemnation.
11** She was asked if she believed she was "in God's Grace". If she said yes, her overconfidence would brand her as a dangerous fanatic since no one but God is supposed to know who's in his grace or not. If she said no, however, then it would mean she had been masquerading as a religious figure for trivial ends. Joan, however, figured out the trap quickly enough to answer: ''[[TakeAThirdOption "If I'm not, may God put me in it; If I am, may God keep me there."]]'' The wording was considered both humble and pious. Centuries later, this witty reply was actually considered as an argument in favor of her canonization.
12** Given only men's clothing to wear, she had a choice between wearing it (and being condemned for impropriety) or going naked (and being condemned for impropriety, as well as exposing herself to [[PrisonRape certain other dangers]] in the enemy prison that she was held in).
13* The medieval and early colonial practice of "dunking" those accused of witchcraft could very easily become this. The accused would have a rope tied to their waist and get thrown into a body of water. If they floated, pull them out and, depending on the region and era, either imprison, hang, or [[BurnTheWitch burn them at the stake]]. If they sank, pull them out and let them go... and if they happened to drown, at least they died innocent. This was actually mocked in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', where Timmy undergoes it but survives; when he comes out of the water and is accused of being a witch, he retorts "Or a kid who can swim!"
14* The Salem Witch Trials were also this. If you were accused of being a witch or being in league with the devil, you had two options: refuse to admit your guilt and be hanged, or wrongfully confess it, then accuse someone else of being a witch in the process perjuring yourself and then get killed by that person's family in retribution, or potentially still be arrested and executed. Giles Corey is famous for [[TakeAThirdOption taking a third option]]: as he was being crushed to death by stones, he refused to break down and admit his "guilt" or accuse anyone else. His last words were [[DefiantToTheEnd "More weight."]] and in doing this he managed to protect his family's well-being. At that time, a trial could not start until a plea was given, and if found guilty, all property would be confiscated by the court. Since the trial never started, he could not be found guilty, and his children would keep their inheritance.
15* There's a well-known story that the Caliph Omar whose army sacked the Library of Alexandria said of its books that either they contradicted the Koran and thus were heretical and should be burned, or they agreed with the Koran and thus were superfluous and should be burned. Either way, they wound up on the bonfire. Though [[ArtisticLicenseHistory almost certainly false]], this legend can be traced back [[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/3517 at least]] to the 13th century.
16* There's a classic JewishMother joke that works like this: She gives her son two nice ties for his birthday. Next week he goes to dinner at her house wearing one of them. She says in a hurt tone, "What's the matter? You didn't like the other one?" Some versions go further. On the following week he shows up wearing the other tie, and she remarks, just as hurt, "What? The first one's not good enough anymore?". Then, on the third week, he tries to play it smart by either wearing no tie or both at once, to which she laments, "Oy, what a horrible mother I am! My son can't even dress himself properly!"
17* A classic StockLateralThinkingPuzzle is built around this idea. A man is to be executed, based on whatever he says next. If it is true, he will be shot. If it is false, he will be hanged. The trick is for him to TakeAThirdOption and say: "I will be hanged" (or alternatively "This statement is a lie").[[note]]Be careful with this answer, though; it just might end in you either getting ''both'' punishments for triggering both requirements, or subjecting you to some other punishment to compensate.[[/note]]
18* Trying to explain the existence of the supernatural by science can appear to result in this. If science cannot prove it, then it doesn't exist. But if science can prove it, then it is just a natural phenomenon as science is about reproducibility and something that is readily reproduced is hardly ''super''[[note]]Above, beyond [[/note]] natural. However, this is a flawed argument; there are things science can't prove definitively because there is no reproducible testing method (like why the universe even exists, despite having a solid idea of how it happened), and certain ideas that hold up under testing but not in the real world (like time being reversible mathematically but never happening outside of theoretical quantum mechanics).
19* The typical would-be child predator who gets caught in a sting operation by the ''Creep Catchers'' or ''Predator Poachers'' does have the option to simply walk away and not talk to the Catchers. But the penalty for that is usually his chatlog and face (caught on video) goes directly to the police. That is the typical threat presented to entice the predator to agree to be filmed while answering the Catchers'/Poachers' questions, thus incriminating himself. However, this leads to the full video and excerpts of the chatlogs being put online for all to see, including the police. So either way, the would-be predator (who has already committed two felonies by soliciting a minor online and actually showing up in an attempt to engage in sexual activity with said hypothetical minor) is equally exposed and could expect a possible visit from law enforcement depending on how seriously they take the non-professional sting operation.
20* The statement, "Denial is the first sign of a problem" can be seen as Morton's fork. If you admit to having a problem - you have it. If you do not admit it - you have it and are in denial. The statement does make sense, however, if something is obviously wrong. If you still deny it, that is a sign that there really is a systematic problem and not a one-off mistake.
21* Monster movies such as those featuring {{Kaiju}} often get flak for either of two reasons: [[JustHereForGodzilla focusing on the human drama instead of the cool monster action]], or [[SpotlightStealingSquad focusing too much on the monsters and shafting the human characters in the process]]. For example, critics reacted positively to the human drama in ''Film/Godzilla2014'', but audiences were less pleased due to the very limited screentime of the titular monster; fast forward to ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' and while audiences loved the kaiju battles they signed up for, critics complained about the lack of focus given to the human side of the story. Even balancing the monster and human elements (which is admittedly ''extremely hard'' to do anyway) isn't an option either at times - because complaints will come in from some source or another that [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption too little was done with BOTH of them]]. Ultimately, with ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', they stuck with the monster fights because the audience ''pays'' for their privilege. This factors in to the universal acclaim awarded to ''Film/GodzillaMinusOne'' for achieving the impossible and giving both compelling human drama ''and'' stellar Kaiju action.
22* In 1858, one year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott had no right to sue for his freedom because he was a slave, UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln engaged in a series of debates with Stephen Douglas for a seat to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate. At Freeport, Illinois, Lincoln posed the question of whether the people of a territory could exclude slavery. If Douglas answered yes, he would appear to support popular sovereignty[[note]]Popular sovereignty was a political principle by which the territories' voters would determine if a future state entered the Union as a territory where slavery was prohibited or permitted.[[/note]] over the Supreme Court's Dred Scott ruling - he would thus stand a better chance of gaining the senatorial seat, but lose Southern support for the Democratic nomination in the upcoming 1860 presidential election; if he answered no, Douglas would appear to turn his back on popular sovereignty, which would be welcomed by the Southerners, but could cost him support for the Senate (as Illinois was a free state) - and he would not be seen as a viable candidate for the Presidential nomination, being a failed senatorial nominee in a state previously dominated by the Democrats. Douglas tried to TakeAThirdOption and came up with the Freeport Doctrine, in which he accepted the Dred Scott ruling, and suggested that slavery might be discouraged if the voters failed to pass laws to keep slaves under control. This response, which passively allowed a territory to nullify the Dred Scott decision, allowed Douglas to gain the Senate seat, but cost him the Southerners' support in the 1860 presidential election against Lincoln. Rather unfortunately for Douglas, the South wasn't interested in third options, and only ''full'' support for the Dred Scott ruling was acceptable to them; Lincoln's election to the Presidency was considered the last straw which started the South on the path to secession and eventually The Civil War.
23* The "Jonah Complex" in psychology. If you fail at something, you beat yourself up over it because you're not skilled enough. Yet if you succeed at something, you attribute it to pure luck or cheating, and still beat yourself up over it for not being skilled enough.
24** Sufferers of "impostor syndrome" frequently have this mindset as well. "Impostor syndrome" is a psychological phenomenon in which a successful person cannot internalize their own success, and thinks of themselves as a fraud. Even when the supposed "impostor" does succeed, all signs of their own competence are dismissed by that person as pure luck, good timing, the work of someone else, or deceiving others into thinking the person is smarter than they really are. Surveys indicate that between more than half of people in the Western world feel like this at times, so [[YouAreNotAlone this is much more common than you might think]].
25** And some people with impostor syndrome joke (or maybe they're not joking) about how ''they're not even good enough to have impostor syndrome!''
26* Website/NotAlwaysRight: [[http://notalwaysright.com/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-woes/21598 Some jerk]] tries to steal a teenage girl's camera, which happens to contain some provocative selfies, and is found out when [[INeverSaidItWasPoison he mentions a stolen camera before the guard detaining him does]]. The would-be thief then changes his tune to admit that it's not his camera. As the security guard puts it, either the thief admits he's lying, in which case he goes to jail for theft, or he continues to say it's his own camera, in which case he goes to jail for stalking and child pornography.
27* In Nazi-occupied Poland, helping Jews (even selling them food) was a capital crime (typically for your whole family), and if you lived in a village hiding Jews, not turning in neighbors hiding Jews meant you and your male relatives would be fair game for execution if they were caught (if many villagers hid Jews, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_Jews_by_Poles_during_the_Holocaust#Punishment_for_aiding_the_Jews your whole village]] might be destroyed in reprisal). On the other hand, if you did decide to inform on Jews, it was considered treason by the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Underground_State Polish Underground State]], and by extension the Polish Home Army and also punished by execution.
28* The communist Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) operated out of the Kurd-controlled portion of northern Iraq, and primarily targeted Kurds living in neighboring Turkey who didn't support it. The Turkish military targeted Kurds who did support the PKK. Worse, both knew the policy of the other, which put you in the sights of one if the other ''didn't'' attack you.
29* This was a common tactic for the Mongol Empire under UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan: charge in to relatively close range, fire their arrows, retreat, and repeat. If the enemy attempted to chase down the Mongols, then this would mean breaking formation, rendering them vulnerable (and the great speed and mobility of the Mongols on horseback made catching up to them difficult). If the enemy held their ground, then they would be slowly worn down by arrow fire, destroying their morale to the point that they would likely break ranks anyway (either to try the first tactic or simply run away).
30* Some international lawyers have been appealing the [[JustFollowingOrders Nuremberg defense]] on the grounds that its rejection places soldiers in a Morton's Fork situation: either follow the orders and be thrown in prison and possibly executed for war crimes by the other side later, or refuse to follow the orders and be thrown in prison and probably executed for insubordination by your own superiors now. That's why nowadays there is a clause that allows the Nuremberg defense if they had no real option to refuse or if the consequence of refusal would be extreme.[[note]]In fact, one of the biggest arguments from original Nuremberg trial was evidence that soldiers who had refused comparable orders had ''not'' been severely punished, which specifically proved that the soldiers ''did'' have a choice.[[/note]]
31* When Visceral Games was advertising ''VideoGame/DantesInferno'', they sent out a bunch of trick boxes pertaining to one of the SevenDeadlySins, the one for greed was 100 dollars with a note that read "If you keep this, you're going to hell for the sin of hoarding, if you give it away, you're going to hell for the sin of wasting." This was an even more impressive Morton's Fork even outside of the one presented in the box. Anyone who received the box was put into the situation where either they mentioned that they had received the money and turned it down, thus giving Visceral Games free publicity, or alternatively stay quiet about it, and thus when other journalists revealed that they had been sent money, it looked like the ones who had stayed quiet about it had pocketed the cash.
32* In 2011, a twenty-year-old woman claimed that Music/JustinBieber knocked her up the year before, and sued to be compensated. The problem was that if she lost her case, she could be tried for fraud; if she won the case, she could be tried for ''statutory rape'', since Bieber would have been under the legal age of consent at the time of conception. The case went away quietly.
33* R.D. Laing, as a member of the "anti-psychiatry" movement within psychology, proposed a hypothesis[[note]]Not a theory.[[/note]] that schizophrenia is, rather than a mental disorder, a form of Morton's Fork. The schizophrenic attempts to reject an unlivable condition or else face the pain of that unlivable condition. This is not accepted by the current psychiatric community.[[note]]Specifically, a critical idea for him was his belief that schizophrenia had no genetic cause. Laing died approximately 30 years before multiple landmark studies established the genetic link of schizophrenia - though the penetration of the genes even in identical twins is not 100%, suggesting other factors are in play. As a result, we have confirmatory evidence he was wrong, but he did not live to either modify his ideas in light of new evidence or else change them.[[/note]]
34* The CTA in Chicago adopted the Ventra System, which was riddled with issues months after being announced and introduced. A journalist asked the then-head of the CTA why he would adopt a system that was known to be problematic and insecure in every other major city it was used in; did he know about these problems? If the head of the CTA answered yes, then he had willingly instituted a faulty system for Chicago transit. If he answered no, then he would have been seen as irresponsible for not thoroughly researching an entirely new transit payment system.
35* In the run-up to the 2015 UK election, Labour's Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Ed Balls went on record stating that if he became full Chancellor, he would leave the Conservative party's ideological austerity policy intact, and praising the current Chancellor for its implementation. This backfired when large percentages of the voting public spoke out against the policy: if Ed Balls was voted in and changed nothing, the public would continue to suffer under the same policy, but if he spoke out against austerity to court public favor, he would be seen as 'flip-flopping' and incompetent for endorsing it in the first place.
36* In his last season as head coach of the Michigan Wolverines, Brady Hoke got into a heap of trouble during a game. The quarterback took a nasty hit and exhibited very visible signs of being concussed. The signs were so obvious that even the crowd booed for him to be taken off the field. However, Hoke kept him in for several more plays. After the game, Hoke was asked if he saw that his QB was concussed. This was a question that Hoke could not answer without looking bad: Either he saw that his QB was concussed and irresponsibly decided to leave him in the game, or he was not paying enough attention to see that his QB was concussed. Hoke was let go at the end of the season.
37* Some cruel guards in Nazi concentration camps played a version of this: a guard approached a prisoner, grabbed his cap and threw it on the grass by the fence, ordering the prisoner to pick it up. If the guy refused, he was shot for disobedience; if he followed the order, he was shot for an escape attempt.
38* Sweden had conscription for most of the 20th century. Most recruits tried to avoid deployment at the army base in Boden, because of the cold, darkness, and long distance from home. One story told that they had little chance of being sent somewhere else:
39-->'''[[DrillSergeantNasty Officer]]:''' Can you ski?\
40'''Recruit #1:''' Yes, sir!\
41'''Officer:''' You will be sent to Boden. Next! Can you ski?\
42'''Recruit #2:''' No, sir!\
43'''Officer:''' You will be sent to Boden, for ski training. Next!
44* This can be said for former LAPD officer Mark Fuhrman, a key witness for the prosecution in the murder trial against OJ Simpson. When mounting evidence of him being racially abusive toward African Americans surfaced, he could've admitted fault, but that would have ended up ruining his credibility in and out of the courtroom, infuriating the racially-mixed jury into siding with Simpson's defense team and turning the murder trial into a "race card" extravaganza. But when he instead lied in his testimony, a few months later, the defense played audio tapes of Fuhrman (aptly known as the "Fuhrman tapes") repeatedly using the N-word a total of 41 times; not only did he get charged with perjury, which he pleaded no contest to, he still ended up ruining said credibility in and out of the courtroom, infuriating said racially-mixed jury into siding with Simpson's defense team and turning said murder trial into said "race card" extravaganza that saw OJ being controversially declared not guilty.
45* Creator/{{Disney}} was faced with this when writing Prince Naveen in ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. According to some accounts, the studio was concerned that making him black (like Tiana) might have led to complaints that they [[TokenMinorityCouple deliberately avoided writing an interracial relationship into the film]]. But since most of the previous Disney Princesses had love interests who were of the same race as them, ''not'' making him black might have led to complaints that they [[TokenMinority deliberately kept the number of black characters in the film to a minimum]]. They ultimately tried to [[TakeAThirdOption take a middle path]] by making him an [[AmbiguouslyBrown ethnically ambiguous]] nobleman from a fictional Mediterranean country, which led to a few complaints of its own.
46* A similar situation occurred with ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', regarding the role of the Ancient One. Disney/Marvel feared that if they wrote the character as Asian, as they were in the comics, it would lead to complaints about [[MagicalAsian pandering to Asian stereotypes]] [[note]] As The Ancient One was from UsefulNotes/{{Tibet}}, Disney also risked the film being BannedInChina for invoking the controversy over the country's status. [[/note]], but if they changed the character's ethnicity, it would lead to complaints about [[RaceLift whitewashing]], and about the lack of Asian characters in a film largely set in Asia. They ultimately went down the latter route by casting Creator/TildaSwinton and making the Ancient One Celtic, and compensated for it by including Wong, a character from the comics that they hadn't initially planned to. Kevin Feige has since expressed regret at not casting an Asian actor.
47* eBay has done this to legally back up their ban on people trying to [[DealWithTheDevil sell their souls]] on the website: if the soul does not exist, then nothing is being sold and the transaction is fraudulent; if the soul ''does'' exist, then it is a part of the human body, and eBay does not permit the sale of human bodies (or parts thereof) on their website.
48* UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton_presidential_campaign,_2016 2016 campaign logo]] went through a little of this. When it was first released, it was mocked in some circles because the arrow (in the logo for a left-wing candidate) points to the right. Obviously, it was intended to be pointing "forwards", i.e. the direction people read, thus implying a progressive candidate. If they had pointed it to the left, it likely would have been mocked for pointing "backwards" (thus implying regressive ideas). Either way, the logo concept was a little flawed.
49* The debate on universal suffrage comes to a Morton's Fork as well. The United States began with the power to vote being restricted to significant landowners but expanded this right as time passed to the point nigh any citizen over the age of adulthood (18 in this case) can vote. History has shown you can't win: a restricted voting base of the knowledgeable still disenfranchises a lot of people, but universal suffrage creates a huge pool of easily-swayed voters ripe for exploitation by a VillainWithGoodPublicity.
50* Ottoman Sultan [[{{Cincinnatus}} Murad II]] was told by his son, Mehmed II, to come out of retirement. Murad refused. Mehmed replied, "If you are the Sultan, come and lead your armies. If I am the Sultan, I order you to lead my armies."
51* Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox found themselves in this situation regarding the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' film rights: the main reason why they produced [[Film/FantasticFour2015 the 2015 film]] was to [[AshcanCopy prevent the character rights]] from reverting back to Creator/MarvelStudios. When the movie came out, it [[BoxOfficeBomb flopped critically and commercially]], [[StillbornFranchise effectively killing off the possibility of a sequel or another reboot]], leaving Fox with the only option of giving back the rights to Marvel. Here was where this trope came into play: had Fox churned out another ''Fantastic Four'' movie after the release of the 2015 film, they would have likely lost money on it, forcing them to give up the rights. Had they sat on the rights for too long, they would have lost the rights (and any money from a project as a result). In the end, [[ShaggyDogStory the whole thing was rendered moot]] in 2018, when Creator/{{Disney}}[[note]]Who bought Marvel in 2009[[/note]] bought Fox's film and TV assets, thus acquiring the Fantastic Four rights anyway, meaning they can now be placed back into Marvel Studios, and a couple years later, Creator/MarvelStudios would later announce their own reboot of the Fantastic Four to be set in the MCU.[[note]]Besides the Fantastic Four, the acquisition also merges Deadpool and the X-Men back into Marvel Studios.[[/note]]
52* This trope is allegedly how the term "white elephant" came into being: According to legend, the King of [[UsefulNotes/{{Thailand}} Siam]] would give an obnoxious courtier a white elephant as a punishment. Since white elephants were (and are) considered sacred and symbols of royalty, the courtier could not put them to use doing normal tame-elephant stuff (hauling things, carrying important people, maybe some fighting if the strategy called for WarElephants). For the same reason, the courtier could not return it or give it away. Hence, their only option would be to keep the animal as a drain on their resources.
53* Voting literacy tests were (and are) notorious for this, as they were designed to be vague and entirely up to the examiner whether the answer was correct, who could then proceed to pass or fail it entirely [[HangingJudge based on their opinion of the person taking the test]] (i.e. if they were black, failing them). For instance, one test might offer the question "draw a line around the shortest word in this line." If a person drew a line around "a", the examiner could fail them for [[ExactWords not drawing one around]] "the shortest word in this line", or declaring that "a" is a letter and not a word, and they should have drawn one around "in". Conversely, if they ''did'' do either of the above, the examiner could fail them for [[MovingTheGoalposts not drawing one around "a"]]. If they [[TakeAThirdOption circled all three]], the examiner could fail them for trying to give three wrong answers. The examiner could also declare that, [[LoopholeAbuse since they drew a circle and not a line]], they failed the question (of course, never elaborating what else they were supposed to draw or [[DistinctionWithoutADifference how to differentiate between a circle and a line around something]]). If they asked the examiner for clarification, then they were wasting precious time (the tests were usually thirty questions in ten minutes) and were bound to fail at least two more questions even if the examiner ''did'' give a good answer. This is why voting eligibility tests have been banned in the United States under the Voting Rights Act (which uses the 24th Amendment's ban on poll taxes as its basis).
54* As a child, UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu was taken captive by Oda Nobuhide and a ransom was sent to his father, Hirotaka, demanding that he break a crucial alliance or else his son would be killed. Hirotaka responding by refusing to give in and spearing Nobuhide on Morton's fork. He noted that whether they killed Ieyasu or not, Hirotaka would be the most trusted man in all of Japan (quite an asset during the Warring States period) for not giving in to the threat; no matter what Nobuhide did, it would result in Hirotaka's positioning strengthening. Ultimately, Ieyasu was kept as a useless hostage for three years (though the friendship he developed with a child who would be later named [[UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga Nobunaga]] eventually led to the Tokugawa shogunate that ultimately unified Japan).
55* The practice of the ConsummationCounterfeit, in places where HonorRelatedAbuse is common. Fail to bleed on your wedding night, and everyone will know or assume you're not a virgin, and you'll be executed or banished. Fake it and get caught, same result, hence the practice of faking the blood and hoping for the best.
56* Former US FBI director James Comey was in this position in October 2016. The FBI had just quietly reopened the investigation into whether Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server for her duties as Secretary of State had violated any laws, after some of those emails were found on computers seized during a sexting investigation into former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who at that time was still married to Hillary's assistant Huma Abedin. Since releasing information like that so close to the election could affect the result, the Justice Department has a policy against it. But... Comey was hardly the only one in the bureau who knew this, and there were many agents who hated Clinton and supported Trump. It was likely that if he ''didn't'' make it public that the investigation had been reopened, it would be leaked to right-wing news outlets with the implication that Comey was covering for Hillary... very damaging to him since the FBI's earlier decision to clear her of any wrongdoing (though he took the time to say that using the private server was "reckless", which itself went beyond [=DoJ=] guidelines) had been seen as politically motivated by Republicans. Comey decided to release it... and then just the weekend before the election announced that no incriminating evidence had been found. Republicans ''still'' thought he was covering up for a likely future boss; Democrats accused him of helping Trump regardless of his intentions. The [[{{Irony}} ironic twist]] came when Trump won, and several months into his administration fired Comey, supposedly for the reasons Democrats were mad at him.
57* The U.S. Supreme Court's ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrity_v._New_Jersey Garrity v. New Jersey]]'' decision created this for government employees who are investigated internally for administrative violations, whether or not the alleged misconduct might potentially be a crime. The logic is that, while citizens have the right not to be compelled to incriminate themselves, the government also has an interest in employees cooperating fully with internal investigations. So, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrity_warning Garrity warning]] given before questioning in that situation, in addition to reminding the interview subject that they do not have to say anything, warns them that if they ''do'' exercise that right, they can nonetheless be disciplined by their employer, even terminated, for refusal to cooperate. So, if you're a government employee at ''any'' level facing charges for something you actually did, you can either cooperate and incriminate yourself, or keep your mouth shut and be disciplined for it.
58* Numerous news outlets have assumed this was what caused the 2018-2019 US government shutdown. On December 19th, the Senate passed a bill to fund the government, but only allotted less than $2 billion for President Trump's much-talked-about border wall. Trump was actually initially fine with this, and stated as much, expressing his willingness to sign the bill into law. However, shortly before he signed off on it, he suddenly changed his mind - $5.7 billion for the Wall or the Government enters shutdown. Many people on Twitter took notice of various right-wing supporters for Trump such as Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh decrying such a move, claiming he would be seen as "weak" and a "coward" for capitulating for such a low amount[[note]]It's worth noting here that it is generally accepted that Trump informs many of his decisions based on optics: how it will look to his base, of which Coulter and Limbaugh are very vocal representatives[[/note]], and stating that he threatened to shut down the government if he didn't get his way, and where was that [[PaperTiger empty threat]] now? As a result, many have assumed that Trump's about-face on the issue was a result of a Morton's Fork he created for himself: either he follows through on the threat of shutting down the government to get his way, which would be deeply unpopular, or he fails to follow through and alienates his base, and also gets exposed for his empty threat, which means he wouldn't be taken seriously again (a dangerous political proposition). So he followed through and shut down the government.\
59\
60The shutdown then dragged on because both sides had a Morton's Fork: the President and his Republican allies could not capitulate for the reasons that they started the shutdown in the first place - they did not want to be seen as weak or cowards for refusing to fund the border wall - but they also had to deal with the fact that ''not'' capitulating would keep the government shut down. The opposition Democratic party, led by Nancy Pelosi, refused to capitulate on funding the border wall because the border wall is wildly unpopular with their base and generally unpopular among the electorate, but [[HereWeGoAgain not capitulating would keep the government shut down]]. Either one side gives in to the other and is excoriated by their base for doing so, or both sides entrench and get attacked by ''everyone'' for failing to reopen the government.[[note]]To the Democrats' credit, they ''did'' seem to recognize the Fork early on and attempted numerous bills to reopen everything but the Department of Homeland Security so they could have a proper debate, but the Republicans in the Senate would constantly shoot it down.[[/note]]\
61\
62Ironically, 35 days later, Trump finally caved, reopening the Government without his Border Wall money, not even the initial total agreed on.[[note]]Most think he relented because among the jobs not being paid during the shutdown were ''air traffic controllers''. A shortage of controllers briefly shut down [=LaGuardia=] Airport, meaning no ritzy people able to fly into New York to avail of Trump's businesses there, meaning the shutdown was costing ''him'' money.[[/note]] [[ForegoneConclusion And he was attacked by his base for doing so]].
63* The Brexit vote has turned into this:
64** If the government returns to the EU, then they have to abide by EU regulations and will not be able to return to the way they had it before. When they leave the EU, they'll suffer from economic problems, importation and exportation issues, and a multitude of jobs are affected by the vote (from farmers exporting their products to the EU, to fishermen because of the border between UK waters and EU waters).
65** The issue surrounding the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, in particular, became a huge problem because it would either (a) become a hard border that could restart UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, (b) be so open as to make an EU-UK border meaningless, (c) treat Northern Ireland separately from the rest of the United Kingdom, or (d) lead to Irish reunification. No Brexit-supporting British nationalist or nativist supports any of these options, leading to the government trying to work out a "smart border" to solve it.
66* One of the criticisms of the [=FOSTA-SESTA=] package involves this. To go a bit into some details, if a site is reported to have sex-trafficking through it, the admins get legal trouble and, unfortunately, the admins can't report that there's sex trafficking as, doing that means they have to acknowledge that there's sex trafficking on the site, leading to, again, legal trouble.
67* The documentary "The Problem With Apu" created a situation for the creators of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons.'' If they modified Apu to appeal to political correctness or remove him outright, then it'll offend nostalgic fans for "pandering to [=SJWs=]" or make them afraid of what can happen to other beloved characters in the series. If they didn't change Apu, then they'll be blamed for ignoring complaints or accused of promoting their accusations through inactivity. They decided to go with a mix of both options: Apu remains in the series, but is now voiced by an actor of Indian descent.
68* When [=YouTube=] introduced their new system to resolve issues with COPPA, which ensures that websites don't keep personal information of children visiting them, many [=YouTube=] creators were upset that they would be stuck in a huge fork if they produced content which was deemed too "kid friendly". If they declared that their content was for kids, their video could no longer have comments or targeted ads, which hurts the video's chances of being picked up by the algorithm, and makes it harder for them to monetize their channel. If they don't, their video might become classified as being "for kids" anyway and they might risk legal issues for not properly declaring their content.
69** The aforementioned COPPA issues combined with the ongoing "Adpocalypse" and subsequent demonetization of content not deemed "advertiser friendly" have yet another fork for creators. If you make content that is raunchy or adult, [=YouTube=] will demonetize you for creating non-"advertiser friendly" content, but if you make content that is clean and family-friendly, [=YouTube=] will find you in violation of their COPPA system and demonetize you. ''WebVideo/GloveAndBoots'' has notoriously been the victim of both ends of this particular fork.
70* In the Roman Empire, Emperor Commodus would fight in rigged gladiatorial combat for entertainment, and would do so since before he took the throne. This forced the gladiators into an even more unwinnable situation than just normally being a gladiator would be.[[note]]Most “normal” gladiator fights were not ''necessarily'' lethal.[[/note]] Were the gladiator to win and kill Commodus, then either Commodus' father would want his head on a pike (back during Marcus Aurelius’ reign) or else he’d be guilty of regicide and the authorities would want his head on a pike (had this been during Commodus’ own reign). Either option would force the gladiator to surrender instead. If the gladiator loses; then he’s at Commodus' mercy. Fortunately, Commodus would always spare his gladiator opponents, but only because it was custom for him to kill his practice opponents while preparing for the "real" fight.
71** Another Roman, General Marcus Licinius Crassus, had his own private fire brigade and whenever they showed up at a burning house gave you a choice: sell me your house and I’ll put the fire out and you’ll have to buy back your home from me, or don’t and I let your house burn to the ground and leave you homeless.
72* While adapting ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' into a [[Series/TheBoys2019 TV series]], Creator/EricKripke faced a struggle with adapting the controversial scene where Starlight is sexually assaulted by members of the Seven because of its controversy and because of the growth of the [=#MeToo=] movement. If they directly adapted the scene, then it would face backlash from the public for using sexual assault for shock value. If they ignored it, then they'd be ignoring the problem itself while also becoming unfaithful to the source material. After discussing the matter with women who have gone through the same experience, Kripke decided to reimagine the scene so it reflects a dark, disgusting reality and so Starlight's character arc can be fulfilled within the first season.
73* While creating ''VideoGame/MafiaIII'', the developers were confronted with the subject of racism since the game is set in the 1960s and the protagonist is a biracial man by the name of Lincoln Clay. If they added the racism of the era, then people will be appalled by the behavior and it will generate controversy. [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory If they didn't add it]], then it would be disrespectful towards the people who actually endured the racism of that time period. The devs chose to address this concern at the start of the game and chose to add racism to the game so it doesn't sanitize that dark part of history.
74* Gun control advocates tried to have the Maxim 50 banned or commercially thrown away by subjecting it to this. The Maxim 50 is a large-bore muzzle-loading rifle with a suppressor built into its barrel. Since the weapon is suppressed, the gun control advocates claimed it must be subjected to the NFA rules on suppressors (tax stamp and/or further regulation). If it is regulated and therefore overpriced, people won't want to buy it. If it isn't regulated, it will be banned as a criminal weapon. However, [=SilencerCo=] pointed out that muzzle-loaded guns do not qualify as modern firearms since they cannot use modern metallic cartridges. Muzzle-loaders require three separate objects to be loaded into them in order to fire one shot (gun powder, projectile, and primer). Furthermore, the Maxim 50's reason for suppression is noise reduction, as anyone will find out at the shooting range. Even with the in-built suppressor, the Maxim 50 has been proven to be [[BangBangBang very loud]], making it useless for a "silent" murder. Thus, it cannot be banned.
75* Flying fish have the ability to leap out of the water and glide to escape aquatic predators... [[OutOfTheFryingPan and become prey for flying ones]]. If they dive to avoid the flying ones, they become easy prey for the aquatic ones.
76* In the wake of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic and the deployment of vaccines in the closing month of 2020, politicians, religious figures, minority group leaders, businessmen, and leaders in general have faced one on whether to take the first wave of vaccines or wait with everyone else. With mistrust in medicine rearing its ugly head throughout the whole pandemic, many have chosen to be filmed receiving the vaccine to prove it's safe. Cue accusations of elitism and a lack of concern for the common man. If they decide to wait with everyone else, anti-vaxxers will question why none of the elite are taking the vaccine if it's safe or they might be accused of ''being'' an anti-vaxxer themselves.
77* Attempts to get cheerleading officially recognised as a sport in the USA have run into this: Liberals are concerned about funding set aside for women's sports getting redirected to cheerleading, while conservatives don't want the regulation that would come with it being a recognised sport. This was discussed in [[Recap/LeverageS05E05TheGimmeAKStreetJob an episode]] of ''Series/{{Leverage}}''.
78* During the Vietnam War, men would try evading the draft by pretending to be gay so they'd be ineligible, as LGBT people weren't allowed to serve in the American military at the time. This immediately created a situation; either take part in an unpopular war that killed thousands of people or pretend to be gay during a time period where there was a major stigma against homosexuality. Either choice carries a high risk of suffering and death.
79* During the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar, Union general Benjamin Butler found out that several fugitive slaves had taken refuge among his army, and their Virginian (and Confederate) owners demanded their return, invoking the Fugitive Slave Law. Butler pointed out that either the Virginians were United States citizens, which meant they had risen in treason and unlawful rebellion against the government and he was in the legal duty of dispossessing them of their property for that crime, or they were Confederate citizens, which meant that they could not invoke a United States law, they were part of a country at war with the United States and he was legally allowed to leave them bereft of their "contraband". This would soon become standard policy for the Union Army and Navy, before Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation.
80* Creator/{{Netflix}} is stuck in such a way with regards to VPN users, who can obfuscate their geographic location to bypass regional lockouts and watch shows normally blocked in their country. On one hand, thanks to copyright laws and other such red-tape mumbo jumbo, Netflix has to crack down on this and prevent it by detecting and blocking [=VPNs=]. The problem of course is a solid third of all internet users use [=VPNs=] and aren't willing to shut them down and lose the privacy and protection afforded by them just for Netflix, and [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil take a wild guess]] what they can do with their VPN if Netflix puts the run on them. Their choice basically boils down to laying off VPN users and risking losing money to legal troubles... or cracking down on VPN users and risking losing money to piracy.
81* In hindsight, the addition of an average points system in the Argentine First Division in 1983 ended up being this. After San Lorenzo became the first team of "The Big 5" (alongside Boca, River, Independiente and Racing) to get relegated, the shock value ended up with the implementation of a new relegation system, where the two teams with the worst points average of the last three seasons (last two for 1983) would get relegated. This would theoretically protect The Big 5 because a single bad season would not end up with them relegated (as it happened with San Lorenzo). Fate woe the new system when ''in the very first season'', one of The Big 5 (Racing) got relegated with this new system... and even if that weren't the case, another one of The Big 5, River, would have been relegated with the old system. Damned with average points, damned without.
82* In the aftermath of the 2021 [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Academy Awards]] [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardsCeremonies ceremony]], which saw ratings plunge to all all-time low, Creator/{{ABC}} made demands to Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for ways to revitalize the annual broadcast for 2022, including omitting the awards for twelve categories, or else they would exercise a clause in their contract with AMPAS to not air the show at all. If AMPAS rejected the demands, this would be bad news for them because most of their funding comes ABC's annual licensing fees to broadcast the ceremony (around ''$100 million'', not counting advertising revenue). But if they complied, they'd attract the ire of people from the omitted crafts and movie fans alike for apparently shafting "lesser" awards representing underrated pieces of the moviemaking process. In the end, they complied, opting to hand out Oscars for eight categories (including all the short subject awards) prior to the ceremony and tape the acceptance speeches to show later in the broadcast; as expected, a firestorm of criticism erupted from the film community.
83* [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfI King Gwanghae of Joseon]] (Korea) found himself in a sticky situation regarding foreign policy. Technically Joseon was under the control of China's Ming dynasty. After the Ming were defeated by the Qing dynasty in China they still claimed Joseon as their own. The Qing had already taken over all of the Ming's Chinese possessions and wanted to add Joseon to their empire too. Gwanghae's efforts to stay on good terms with the Qing alienated the Ming, and when he was forced to send troops to help the Ming he angered the Qing. His successor King Injo was faced with the exact same problem until the Qing solved it for him by invading, forcing Injo to surrender, and taking control of Joseon.
84* The naming dispute over {{UsefulNotes/Taiwan}} is an example of this. As the neighboring [[{{UsefulNotes/China}} People's Republic of China]] claims Taiwan as one of its provinces, if you refer to Taiwan by its official name (the Republic of China) you are recognizing it as an independent country, while if you refer to it as Taiwan you are acknowledging Taiwan as an independent entity and not a Chinese province (Additionally, some in Taiwan will view you as rejecting their claim as the "real" China). As the PRC (which is much bigger and politically important than Taiwan) threatens to boycott anything that doesn't acknowledge Taiwan as a province of (their) China, this results in things like the Olympics TakingAThirdOption by using awkward-but-neutral names like "Chinese Taipei" to keep both sides happy.
85* One American who visited North Korea (he was fluent in Korean) described this happening when his tour group visited the border on the North side. He was asked to sign the guest book (yes, North Korea has a guest book on their side of the border, apparently). He found himself in a dilemma: if he wrote anything negative about North Korea, it could endanger him. But he could not in good conscience write anything flattering about North Korea either. Worse, the tour guides were watching carefully, obviously eager to see what an American would write down in their guestbook. Finally, he decided to use some ExactWords to get out of it, and wrote that he hoped for a swift and bloodless reunification of Korea: this made the North Koreans happy (their government would certainly like that to happen), but he didn't actually say that he wanted ''North'' Korea to be in charge post-unification.
86* In some places, a minor needs parental consent to have an abortion. The parents' refusal to give consent can create a Morton's fork for both the girl and the doctor.
87** In the doctors' case, the choice is either, obey the law and doom a young girl to MandatoryMotherhood or break the law and risk [[ArrestedForHeroism going to prison for performing an illegal abortion.]] And refusing to perform an abortion which could actually save the girl's life (in the event of a horrific miscarriage) would get the doctor arrested by ''federal law'' for endangering the girl.
88** For the girl, the choice is either to accept that her life will now be ruined or to opt for a "back alley" abortion. If she chooses the latter, being prosecuted for having an illegal abortion will be the ''least'' of her worries,[[note]]especially because she's a minor anyway, so it's very unlikely she will go to jail for it[[/note]] and she might instead end up severely injured or ''dead'' if something goes wrong, which is more than likely. Or she could TakeTheThirdOption and travel to a place where there are no consent laws for abortion, and even then it's easier said than done considering she may have limited resources to travel long-distance.
89* Suffragette Susan B. Anthony used this tactic to prove there was a sex-based DoubleStandard in law. By her time, all adult males were given the right to vote, but women still had yet to be given this right. Susan B. Anthony went to the voting booth to cast a vote and got arrested and tried for "illegal voting", which was her intention. If she was found guilty (which she was) and refused to pay the fine, then the court would be left with two options, both of which would have invoked DoubleStandard and caused controversy. They could have her sent to prison, which would mean the court incarcerated a woman for a crime that a man could not even be accused of. Or, they could just let her off with no punishment, which would mean they allowed a woman to get away with breaking the law, something they would never let a man do, and be accused of given women "special treatment". They chose the latter, and this got people talking. [[note]]They later made things worse for themselves when they decided that police can arrest women for attempting to vote, but had to release them with no charge as soon as they could. Meanwhile, any man who intentionally helped a woman cast an illegal vote (e.g. Anyone in charge of the booths, who let a woman cast a vote) would end up in prison. Further cementing the point that the law goes easy on women, but is harsh on men (although these men did eventually get pardoned and released).[[/note]]
90* Law enforcement, when pulling vehicles over, use this through a simple question: "Do you know why I pulled you over?" The reason is because the question is designed to put drivers in a weird spot when replying; either they say yes, essentially telling the officer they are aware they did something wrong, potentially self-incriminating themselves, or they say no, which lets the officer decide what the reason was, even if on the chance there isn't a problem.
91** Coming into effect in 2024 as a result of this issue, California is making it illegal for police to begin traffic stops by asking "Do you know why I pulled you over?". Californian officers must now begin traffic stops by stating the purpose of the stop.
92* In November 2022, Russian TV Host Andrei Norkin [[https://twitter.com/francis_scarr/status/1590729203485356034 publicly claimed]] he could not comment on the Russian Army's retreat from Kherson during their invasion of Ukraine due to this trope: if said he supported the retreat, he could be sent to jail for "questioning Russia's territorial integrity" (since Kherson is part of the Ukrainian territory Russia "annexed" despite not being in full control of it) but if he said he was ''against'' it he could ''also'' be sent to jail for "discrediting Russia's armed forces" by questioning their judgment.
93* In December 2022, a parent in Utah decided to use a law passed by the GOP-controlled government request them to remove a book. The law allowed parents to request a book to be banned from Utah school libraries and classrooms should it contain "pornographic or indecent" works, riding on a wave of book banning that coincided with a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ and minority people. The book? Literature/TheBible, with eight pages of passages from the book that showcased numerous indecent moments. This puts the government in a bit of a bind - if they ban the book, this will anger their conservative Christian base; if they don't ban the book, even with its proof, it sets up a DoubleStandard and even risks having the law challenged in court. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard The Bible was banned around June 1, 2023, with one of the lawmakers expressing annoyance at this]] and, indeed, that very base got angry. The district eventually put the Bible back on the shelves, claiming the book's cultural value outweighs the inappropriate content, which critics of the law immediately used to argue that the law is about banning books that don't align with the lawmakers' and parents' views.
94* In April 2023, during the Russo-Ukrainian War, a Russian warplane [[FriendlyFire accidentally bombed the Russian city of Belgorod]], killing three people. Admitting to the mistake would have been highly embarrassing and made the Russian military look incompetent, but when Russian news anchors immediately blamed the attack on Ukraine, the military realized this ''also'' made them look incompetent for not preventing the supposed "enemy attack," so they swiftly came clean about the whole thing.
95* For the longest time, as a boy and especially a physically weaker one, getting bad marks at school meant a beating at home, while getting good marks meant a beating on the schoolyard. One has to hope, that [[ValuesDissonance society has actually marched on]] about this.
96* Many, many Soviet people fell victim to this during the Great Purge. If you were a Johnny-come-lately to the Bolsheviks, you had demonstrated that your loyalties were fickle, so you could get targeted by Stalin. On the other hand, if you were a committed Bolshevik, you'd proven that you were a revolutionary at heart, and so you could get targeted by Stalin.
97* The dictation test set by immigration officers under the White Australia policy. Between 1901 and 1958, "undesirable" entrants to Australia could be asked to write out a passage of 50 words... in any European language the immigration officer chose. If you did not speak English, you would be tested in English and fail. If you did speak English, you would be tested in another European language and fail. Between 1902 and 1909, 52 out of 1359 people passed the test; after 1909, no one passed it. In 1934, the German communist Egon Kisch, fluent in several European languages, was tested in Scottish Gaelic (the Australian High Court later ruled that Scottish Gaelic was "not a European language"). In 1936, Mabel Freer, a white British woman born in India who had committed the scandalous act of divorcing her husband, twice failed a dictation test set in Italian.
98* The [[ConvictedByPublicOpinion online nature of being accused of any wrongdoing]] means that your punishment already ready to drop and the damage is done. It is just a matter when and how it will go. The only way to avoid this is to have an iron-clad rebuttal prepared and sometimes not even that would work.
99** If you admit and go for the apology video route, it is basically an admission of guilt and practically validates all that you are accused of.
100** If you keep quiet or make a weak defense, you will be seen as a coward who thinks that the internet is dumb enough to sweep anything that it catches under the rug or someone who isn't even sincere about what they are apologizing about respectively.
101* Likely the rationale for the RousingSpeech “Cmon you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?!” at the eve of a major battle across history. If they don’t want to live forever, why not choose to participate in the battle and die on your own terms, likely [[DyingMomentOfAwesome gloriously?]] And if they do want to live forever, why not choose to participate in the battle and be [[ImmortalityThroughMemory immortalized through history?]]

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