[Peace] [Peace-discuss] Bothsidesing & Whataboutism

[David Johnson]

A much more accurate analysis of what the corporate owned media does is Norm
Chomsky's " Limits of Allowable debate " and " Manufacturing of consent ".
This article is extremely superficial in general but what made it leap from
superficial to absurd was the following paragraph -

" What really makes this the Tapper Moment, though, is not his growing fame
and viral interviews. It's the breadth of the respect he's earned, and how
he's wielding it in the age of Trump. Because while he's tough on
conservatives and liberals alike, he doesn't engage in bothsidesism. As
Tapper said to Maher, "I've never really seen this level of falsehood, just
quantitatively."
- Graham Vyse, The New Republic, 9 Mar. 2018

Really ?  Citing Jake fucking Tapper from CNN as a good example ?  Did I
miss a satirical punch line somewhere in my reading of this ?
Jake Tapper is one of the absolute WORST so called "  journalists " ( actor
and stenographer would be a more accurate description ) in the U.S.
corporate media.
Rivalled only by the conspiracy theory promoter Rachael Maddow and a cast of
characters at FOX so called " News ".

David Johnson



-----Original Message-----
From: Peace-discuss [mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On
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Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2019 5:37 PM
To: peace-discuss at anti-war.net
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Subject: [Peace-discuss] Bothsidesing & Whataboutism

Looking at 'Bothsidesing'
When equal coverage leads to uneven results 
Merriam-Webster  23 Sep 2019

Bothsidesing is a critique leveled at the media and public personas
referring to the practice of finding a second angle on a story in an attempt
at appearing "fair" to each side, which can often be seen as lending
credibility to a side or objectionable idea that has none.

There are two sides to every story, or so we are told. Two people in an
argument aren't going to see an issue the same way. And people on different
ends of the political spectrum are going to have different opinions about
the events that take place in the news.

Getting more than one point of view to the story is part and parcel of
journalism, but sometimes that means taking pains to look for a second angle
to a subject merely for the sake of argument. And that is how we have come
to see use of bothsidesing.

'Bothsidesing' is thought to have much in common with 'whataboutism.'

The state of our nation and the state of our president have all but passed
the point of rescue, but the press, in misguided pursuit of objectivity and
led by the New York Times, still "bothsides" its coverage. Make no mistake:
This too is bias, and though it's not nearly as corrosive to democracy as
the Trump administration, it distorts and accelerates that corrosion-all in
the name of neutrality, no less.
- Roger Sollenberger, Paste, 27 Dec. 2018

Conservatives who spent decades railing against Kennedy, calling him a
murderer and a scoundrel and screaming about the left's silence, are right
to be annoyed by the bothsidesing of this event.
- Sonny Bunch, The Washington Post, 19 Apr. 2018

Bothsidesing and its related noun bothsidesism turn up in critiques of the
news media when a journalist or pundit seems to give extra credence to a
cause, action, or idea that on the surface seems objectionable, thereby
establishing a sort of moral equivalence that allows said cause, action, or
idea to be weighed seriously.

By giving credence to the other side, the media gives an impression of being
fair to its subject, but in doing so often provides credibility to an idea
that most might view as unmerited.

What really makes this the Tapper Moment, though, is not his growing fame
and viral interviews. It's the breadth of the respect he's earned, and how
he's wielding it in the age of Trump. Because while he's tough on
conservatives and liberals alike, he doesn't engage in bothsidesism. As
Tapper said to Maher, "I've never really seen this level of falsehood, just
quantitatively."
- Graham Vyse, The New Republic, 9 Mar. 2018

'Bothsidesing' in Politics
It's not just the media that gets accused of bothsidesing. The term also
arises whenever a public official-or anyone with a large listening
audience-equivocates about a seemingly condemnable action by saying that the
people on either side of that action are equally responsible for it having
taken place. 

Bothsidesing happens prominently during times of mass protest-as protests
are met with counterprotests and violent clashes erupt, turning to
bothsidesism prevents one from explicitly identifying which is in the wrong,
thereby avoiding any incisive comment on the discord that led to the
protests in the first place.
Calling this action bothsidesing might be a deliberate echo of Trump's own
language. In August 2017 he responded to the Unite the Right rally in
Charlottesville, Virginia, saying that there were "very fine people on both
sides" at the rally, language that was viewed by many as a deliberate
attempt to avoid singling out white supremacist activity.
It's probably not a coincidence that use of the term has increased in the
months since Trump uttered the line-much of it on Twitter, sometimes as a
hashtag.

Similarities to 'Whataboutism'
Bothsidesing has a lot in common with whataboutism-the rhetorical tactic of
defending against an accusation by alerting others to a different accusation
against an opponent. Both tactics rely on making false equivalences. While
whataboutism comes with an element of diversion- look at what the guy over
there did-bothsidesing tries to minimize what would often be deemed
objectionable by heightening actions of other groups so that they will be
deemed comparably objectionable.

Some might argue that bothsidesing exposes a paradox about journalism: that
sometimes, when both sides are treated fairly and equally, neither ends up
shown in a true light.

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