What would be a nice short expression to describe a choice which isn't really one, in that all of its possible outcomes are ultimately equivalent despite being presented as different?
My first thought was "false choice", but this turns out to have a different meaning, and my next idea was "empty choice" which doesn't seem to exist. Does anyone know of such an expression?
Moot.
Your choice is moot; whatever you pick, the outcome will be the same.
(Wikipedia)
A Hobson's choice is a free choice in which only one option is offered. As a person may refuse to take that option, the choice is therefore between taking the option or not; "take it or leave it". The phrase is said to originate with Thomas Hobson (1544–1631), a livery stable owner in Cambridge, England. To rotate the use of his horses, he offered customers the choice of either taking the horse in the stall nearest the door or taking none at all.
These days, they could be calling it the unchoice, a la unconference.
The phrase “six of one, half a dozen of the other” is often used to describe such a choice. The idea is that if you take alternative A, you have a net benefit of six; while if you choose alternative B, it's half a dozen.
The choice may also be called a toss-up, which wiktionary defines as “A decision in which neither choice is clearly favorable or unfavorable, or for which the outcome does not matter”.
The colloquial phrase “It don't make no nevermind” might also be used of such a choice. Finally, note that the paradox of Buridan's ass is slightly more relevant (because it relates to a choice between two equally valuable outcomes) than is Morton's fork.
If you must make a choice, but every alternative leads to the same outcome (that is, walking away is not an option), then it is Morton's Fork. It appears to be called a fork because you must choose one of the tines and you always end up at the handle.
There is also no-win situation, which may more familiar.
There's a list of similar situations under Catch-22 in Wikipedia (but this one isn't Catch 22).
The term used in the UK is Hobson's choice. It has its origin in one Tobias Hobson who let out horses, and is said, in the OED, 'to have compelled customers to take the horse which happened to be next the stable-door, or go without.'
If not choosing either is not an option, then you might be speaking simply of a dilemma, 'A choice between two (or, loosely, several) alternatives, which are or appear equally unfavourable' (OED).
Idiom Definition for 'It's as broad as it is long': Used to express that it is impossible to decide between two options because they're equal.
The expression (for me at least) conjures the mental image of two equidistant ways round the edges of a rectangular block or field.
The term I have always used is 'an illusion of choice', such as when you ask a child "would you like to go to bed at the end of this show or in half an hour?" when the show ends in half an hour.
The choice appears to be a valid choice but both options are functionally equivalent.
The term that should most-thoroughly suit your need is
The term is very common in common usage, and means precisely what you're asking for (instead of, no offense to @SF, 'moot' which means an irrelevant, due to the past-tense implication of the word. A catch 22 has no implicit or explicit temporal locus.
This fits the question, because when "all of possible outcomes are ultimately equivalent despite being presented as different" the reason for the equivalency stems from "contradictory constraints or rules" (Catch 22) which, generally, were not initially seen because of the poor deductive powers of someone involved.
The situation in Heller's novel, Catch 22, is identical to the question:
any pilot requesting a psych evaluation, hoping to be found not sane enough to fly (and thereby escape dangerous missions) would thereby demonstrate his sanity
There are two choices (on the part of the doctor):
but actually #1 is the same as #2 in this context. The choice of sanity really isn't a choice. It's a Catch-22
