‘The Opposition Model’ is the most popular pattern of pseudo-evaluation traditionally used in most cultures throughout history. It is still ubiquitous today. TOM places any idea in opposition to some other idea which is purported to be its opposite. Often the opposing idea isn’t even the original idea’s opposite. It may just be a red herring to draw fire on some target to minimize or eliminate attention on all of the other possibilities that might be in competition with the adopted or claimed idea which is then declared the only reasonable possibility.

In the original Tyrannies of ancient Civilization the only ideas that were permissible were the ideas declared by the tyrant or conqueror at a particular time. This of course created automatic conflict with any and all other tyrants and wannabes. More important to the discussion of TOM is the fact that anyone who thought of any alternative was also in conflict and was typically ‘dispatched with extreme prejudice.’

To avoid revealing the tyrants intellectual failings a foe of claimed extreme evil was chosen or created to serve the purpose of blaming and justifying all of the tyrants unpopular actions. Each successor adopted and improved this process for thousands of years. Only this pattern of single alternative thinking was allowed from ancient times forward. It was so thoroughly imbedded in all cultures and languages for thousands of years that the residue cripples humanity even now.

There have always been individuals or groups that recognized better possible alternatives but survival required silence or very careful choice of confidants. The vast majority of the populations were kept in subsistence conditions allowing very little time to think about risking the repercussions of thinking about serious changes. To pass on any ‘subversive ideas’ to progeny amounted to sentencing them to a horrible death along with family and friends. Any survivor was required to be or play the fool. “Go along to get along.” This single alternative pattern of thinking was forcefully dominant for millennia and is imbedded in our cultures and languages so completely that it is almost invisible in our day to day thinking.

The legacy of conflict and war that it produces has propagated along with a necessary accompanying ensemble of power and greed.

Many now understand that there are always more than two alternatives in any situation, sometimes a great number of alternatives. But we selectively and habitually fall back on playing the fool and adopting the tyrant’s playbook for our shortsighted intentions.