In the privacy of my own head, I call this the Procrustean Bed Fallacy.
Procrustes was possibly the world's first serial killer. His house in Ancient Greece was by the side of the road, and whenever a traveler asked to spend the night, he would let them sleep in a very special bed. And when the traveller fell asleep, he would tie them to the bed and if they were too tall for the bed, he would cut them to pieces until they fit. Short people got stretched on a rack until they fit. As you can imagine, this would kill them.
The assumption that people are supposed to fit your metric for them, and that you are entitled to "correct" them until they do, is fundamental to a lot of normative behaviors. And it is fallacious.
It is true that not forcing people to fit your standards is better than doing so. But it still contains the assumption that you get to have standards that other people should fit themselves into.
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branchandroot
Tw: murder, talk of torture
Date: 2018-12-24 07:29 pm (UTC)Procrustes was possibly the world's first serial killer. His house in Ancient Greece was by the side of the road, and whenever a traveler asked to spend the night, he would let them sleep in a very special bed. And when the traveller fell asleep, he would tie them to the bed and if they were too tall for the bed, he would cut them to pieces until they fit. Short people got stretched on a rack until they fit. As you can imagine, this would kill them.
The assumption that people are supposed to fit your metric for them, and that you are entitled to "correct" them until they do, is fundamental to a lot of normative behaviors. And it is fallacious.
It is true that not forcing people to fit your standards is better than doing so. But it still contains the assumption that you get to have standards that other people should fit themselves into.