False Dilemmas

I'm sick of this informal fallacy. Unfortunately, false dilemmas present themselves to the public and myself a fair amount of times, especially when it comes to politics and religion.

What is a false dilemma? It's when two options are given in a situation, where more than two options reside. For example, when the war on terror started, Bush exclaimed, "You're either with us or you're against us!" That is a prime example of a false dilemma. But, they're everywhere. Liberal vs. conservative. Blue state or red state. Win or lose. Pass or fail. Rejection or dating. Rejected or hired. True or false. Heaven or hell. God or Satan. Good vs. evil. War or peace. Republican or democrat. Right or wrong. The list continues.

Why does it have to be this way? Why must we go one of two ways, one of two extremes? Why is one labeled a liberal or conservative, when in fact, most people reside somewhere in the middle of the two extremes? Why is it said that if one does not go to heaven after they perish, they go to hell or vice versa?

As most studies will suggest, there is almost never a 0% or 100% certainty level with anything. The final conclusion resides somewhere between the 0 and 100. Must we simplify things? Is it a crime to allow more than two options, so that people can think more critically and come to a more concise conclusion?

There are many reasons why I preferred essay exams over any other, especially true/false tests. It allowed the students to think critically and use all the information they gathered from that semester to interpret and answer the question in however they saw fit. True/false exams spell everything out for the student and he or she only has one of two routes to travel. The wording can be tricky and one must read over the question very carefully, to look for words such as "not," "never," or "always." Come to think of it, people (especially politicians), many times use false dilemmas as tricky wording to deceive and manipulate the public.