Lesser of two evils principle
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The lesser of two evils principle, also known simply as the lesser evil, is the idea that of two bad choices, one isn't as bad as the other, and should be chosen over the one that is a greater threat. Some people consider the lesser of two evils principle to be an instance of the false dichotomy fallacy, and its enemies include both revolutionaries who oppose the system as a whole, and political moderates advocating that third parties be given equal weight in that system.
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[edit] Political usage
The lesser of two evils principle is often used in reference to electoral politics. When popular opinion is confronted with two main candidates that are substantially similar, a voter is often advised to choose the "lesser of two evils" to avoid having the supposedly "greater evil" get into office and wreak havoc on society.
[edit] Other examples
A person is in an extreme accident is in fatal health. They are being kept alive by machines in a hospital. Someone pulls the plug on the person in order to stop their pain. This may be seen as an evil thing to do in the sense that it is murdering the person, but it is the lesser of the two evils of choice. The first, more evil choice, would be to leave this person barely alive and unable to ever break out of coma, only being kept alive by artificial breathing.
[edit] In literature
The famous 19th century short story, The Lady, or the Tiger?, tells the story of a king who finds that his daughter, the princess, had taken a lover far beneath her station. The king can not allow this and so throws the suitor in prison and sets a date for his trial in the arena where his only way out would be to go through one of two doors. Behind one door would be a beautiful woman hand-picked by the king and behind the other would be a ravenous tiger. If the offender picked the door with the woman behind it, then he was declared innocent and as a reward would be obliged to marry her. If he picked the door with the tiger behind it, he would be deemed guilty and the tiger would rip him to pieces.
The princess was aware of which door concealed the woman and which one the tiger and was in a position to inform her suitor, but was faced with a conundrum. If she indicated the door with the tiger, then the man she loved would be killed on the spot; however, if she indicated the door with the lady, her lover would be forced to marry another woman and even though he would be alive she would never be with him again.
The story concludes with the princess left to choose between the lesser of two evils.
[edit] Curiosities
Some American Science Fiction fans have adopted the slogan "Cthulhu for President: Why Choose the Lesser Evil?" Readers of H. P. Lovecraft will agree that in most cases, Cthulhu is the greater evil. T-shirts with the slogan are generally available at S-F conventions and on the Internet.
In Douglas Adams’ So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, the human inhabitants of Xaxis consistently elect lizards to rule them despite hating the lizards. In the story, not voting for any lizard risks having the wrong lizard be elected. In the “Citizen Kang” vignette of the Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror VII, America ignores third-party candidate Ross Perot and votes for enslavement under alien monster Kang rather than enslavement under alien monster Kodos. In each case, the humor derives from the electorate's depicted willingness to accept the idea that options beyond the two evils are irrelevant.
In Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, the ship's officers are dining and discover weevils in the hardtack. Captain Jack Aubrey declares that in the Navy, one is expected to choose the "lesser of the two weevils."
