black-and-white (adj.)

either-or, simple, all good or all bad, either here or there, neither here nor there, binary, dualistic, dogmatic, definite, unequivocal, absolute, positive, categorical, polar opposites, diametric opposites, day and night, chalk and cheese. This binary expression (it refers to things being sharply divided into good and evil groups, sides, or ideas) perpetuates the positive evaluation of white and the negative evaluation of black (one of its definitions is "expressing, recognizing, or based on two mutually exclusive sets of ideas or values" (American Heritage Dictionary). Using "black and white" lays a foundation, at a subliminal level, for thinking of black and white as opposites and mutually exclusive. See also black/black- (adj.), white.