[This brief
essay is not a partisan diatribe against our President and his advisors.
Rather, the current debacle is used as a thought experiment on how to conceptualize
our choices so we can better ones regardless of our situations.]
In my reading I recently came across the concept of Fool’s Choice,
and I immediately thought it could be applied to our current mess in
Afghanistan. Further thinking revealed to me that another concept- Hobson’s Choice-
could also come into play. And it does.
Definition of Fool’s
Choice- an either/or choice to choose between two outcomes (more options are
usually available)
Definition of Hobson’s
Choice- a free choice in which only one thing is actually offered (ex- take it
or leave it)
Our President and his advisors perhaps thought they were
offered a Hobson’s Choice as follows:
OPTION A- US military and civilians to stay in Afghanistan
indefinitely.
OPTION B- US military and civilians to be withdrawn from
Afghanistan immediately regardless of consequences
If indeed they did, they had an error in thinking. Even a
majority of the President’s critics on this issue did not desire Option A. This
option was a non-starter and non-decision which pushed them into Option B.
If our President and his advisors had thought through the
situation they perhaps would have realized they faced a Fool’s Choice with a
third option as follows-
OPTION A- US military and civilians to stay in Afghanistan
indefinitely
OPTION B- US military and civilians to be withdrawn from
Afghanistan immediately regardless of consequences
OPTION C- US military and civilians to be withdrawn from Afghanistan
in a planned and orderly manner
This thought experiment suggests that if the President and
his advisors had thought of their options through the perspectives of Fool’s
Choice rather than Hobson’s Choice they would not have looked so foolish with
the consequences of their decisions.
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