So I was watching a new, fairly intriguing sitcom called Gary Unmarried. It's about Gary (Jay Mohr) plays a divorced father of two who shares the kids with his wife who was recently engaged to be to the guy who previously was Gary and his wife's marriage counselor. One of the kids is a girl, about 10, and described as a "precocious environmentalist". The scene goes like this:
Gary in the kitchen of his wife: "Are you ready to go Louise?"
Daughter: "Yes. It's better than watching mom murder that fly." (the ex-wife was trying to kill a fly in the kitchen.)
Gary: "Do you know how many flies we kill with my windshield on the way to the recycling center?"
Daughter: "Classic Hobson's Choice."
Gary: "Is that how our arguments are going to go? I make a point and then you say something I don't understand?"
Well, of course I HAD to look up Hobson's Choice. Now, I've never heard of this term which is why I thought it interesting to write about. From Wiki:
"A Hobson's choice is a free choice in which only one option is offered, and one may refuse to take that option. The choice is therefore between taking the option or not taking it, colloquially formulated as "take it or leave it."
So then I have to say, did they get it right? Was going to the recycling center and killing flies a Hobson's Choice? Is take it or leave it correct? I thought maybe not quite. Certainly it doesn't seem "classic". What about this Morton's Fork mentioned on the Wiki entry. Well, that's not quite right either. Both outcomes have to be unpleasant for Morton's Fork to apply.
It seems more just like a dilemna (Such a choice between two options of nearly equal value is more properly called a dilemma), but that's equating the flies lives with recycling. That doesn't seem right either.
Maybe they were right with Hobson's Choice. She can take the recycling and kill flies, or not take the recycling. The decision has a bad outcome in either case though, so maybe Morton's Fork IS right after all.
Things I'm grateful for:
#34 The decision I made some time ago to use a cleaning lady. She came today while I was working and my house is awesomly clean, my bed linens are fresh and my laundry is done.
#35 Whoever figured out that salt melts snow. It makes dealing with the snow so much easier.
#36 It sounds insane, but the US Postal System. For 42 cents I can mail a Christmas Card anywhere in the country. Shouldn't it cost more?
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4 comments:
Anyone who can write a post about Hobson's Choice may not be cultured but surely needs to be classified as intellectual - hah an intellectual Bear's tailgater
You're talking like a Buridan's Ass.
The Wiki definition of a Hobson's Choice isn't exactly accurate. A Hobson's Choice is when you are presented with two or more alternatives, all of which are basically the same thing. In other words, you really don't have a "choice" at all.
In your example, I guess what the daughter was saying was that either way, flies would die.
I never heard of Morton's Fork, though.
No worries joe, that stamp will be costing you more soon!
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