Seeing through the false dichotomies of the extreme-right

One of the problems with defenders of right-wing demagoguery is the way that so many of them only seem to be capable of thinking in the crudest black and white terms.

Here are a few examples of the ridiculously over-simplistic false dichotomies that are regularly lobbed at me by the kind of people who seem to talk solely in tabloid style rhetoric.

If you don't love Trump, then you automatically must love Clinton. 
I don't love Clinton, I think she was just about the worst candidate the Democrats could have fielded against a demagogue like Trump. I liked Bernie Sanders and think he would have easily punctured Trump's ludicrous anti-establishment balloon by being an actual anti-establishment rebel, and that he would have won the "rust belt" states and the Presidential election.

If you don't think Brexit is the best thing since sliced bread, you must adore the EU. 
I don't love the EU. I've written more critical analysis of the EU and stuff like the TTIP corporate power grab than 99% of Brexiters. The problem of course is that being aware of many of the EU's flaws is not the same as wanting to sign a blank contract with the Tory party to make things up as they go along in order to suit their financial backers' interests. I said it before the referendum and I'll say it again: Quitting the EU for a shambolic self-serving Tory Brexit is exactly the kind of situation that the phrase "out of the frying pan, into the fire" was invented for.

If you don't love the fearmongering rhetoric of extreme-right demagogues like Farage, Bannon and Le Pen, then you must sympathise with Islamist fanatics. 
I don't have sympathy for violent, murderous or hate-filled fanatics of any kind. I firmly believe that Islamist fanatics and extreme-right hatemongers are two sides of the same despicable coin. I also think that the only way to avoid the appalling human suffering of the ideological "clash of civilisations" that both of these groups of fanatics crave, is for Muslims and non-Muslims to come together in solidarity against this appalling minority of divisive hate-filled extremists.

Sadly the state of education in the UK (and the US) is so weak these days that millions of people actually buy into these ludicrously over-simplistic false dichotomies rather than applying a few basic critical thinking skills and looking for more sensible answers of their own.

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