Black-and-White Fallacy
Black-and-White Fallacy: only two choices when there are more.
How to spot it
Two choices offered where there are more: "you're either with us or against us", "it's this bill or chaos", "secure the border or lose the country". The missing options are the tell. Ask what else someone could reasonably think or do.
What doesn't count
Some choices really are binary: a yes-or-no vote, a runoff with two candidates. Saying so isn't a fallacy. Neither is arguing that one option is better than another.
Real examples
Flagged by Semblen's model in the last 90 days and picked by rule, not by hand: the newest first, news rotated across left, center and right outlets, at most two ads from any one race. The model has false positives, a quote in a news article may be the outlet reporting what someone else said, and an ad may be quoting its opponent. Follow each link to check it in context.
In the news
“an election between common sense versus crazy”
“the only thing that can stand between Britain and this dangerous experiment”
“common sense versus communist crazy”
“WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!”
“the only Jewish state in the world would cease to exist, and all Jews would be expelled”
“common sense vs. communist crazy”
“culture of fun and winning and the dark socialist vision Democrats have for America”
In 2026 campaign ads
“common sense versus crazy”
“Common sense versus crazy, that's Michigan's choice”
“the only choice for US Senate this November”
“works for liberals, not Alaska”
“the difference between two more years of Trump's unchecked agenda or real accountability in Washington”
In government statements
“We're the only team in Washington that does”
“the answer is to prohibit the sale of this cutting-edge technology to China, not to let AI develop and continue without guardrails”
“Ukraine is on the side of democracy, freedom and truth”
“whether we're going to turn the greatest nation in the history of the world over to communism and big government socialism”
“decided they hate President Trump more than they support Ukraine”
“every Democrat voted against everything I just recounted for you”
Related techniques
Something wrong or unclear on this page?
Tell us. A person reads every note. Use Yes / No under any example if it isn't really black-and-white fallacy: two readers saying no takes it off the page.
Check something yourself
Paste an article, a speech or a video link into the analyzer and Semblen marks each sentence that uses black-and-white fallacy or any other technique, and says why. It flags manipulation techniques, not political tilt.