I see this sentiment expressed more often by tankies, enlightened centrists, and Krazy Konservative Kommenters than mainstream media sources. Usually in reference to economic policy (and in fairness, the differences there are pretty subtle if we're looking at the mainstream).
What I'm seeing in media is an attempt to listen to "both sides." It's just that one side has grown more and more detached from reality, so airing their crazy unchallenged alongside a more normal perspective makes it look like the sides are on equal rhetorical footing. It's like what you get in a debate with Donny T and Biden.
Biden: Normal liberal policy ideas, maybe we leave the queer folks alone, maybe we do a little something on climate, etc.
SmallHandsOrangeBoy: Incoherent frothing about the immigrants, the gays, the "woke mind virus"
Reporters: And here are the candidate's positions, clearly no further comment or observation is required. Best not question the froth lest we be accused of bias!
Feels like a lot of reporters are either unused to dealing with a rising fascist bloc, hampered by corporate meddling, or complicit.
"Both sides" as a definition, before you ever make comparisons, is already a diminutive of reality. The idea that there are only ever two viewpoints, despite the reality of the current American political situation, is naive at best. Even within the two major US parties there are fractious and conflicting personalities.
The "both sides" argument isn't asinine because it equates the two major players, its asinine because it accepts their premise that they're the only ones that matter.
The "both sides" argument isn't asinine because it equates the two major players, its asinine because it accepts their premise that they're the only ones that matter.
True but I disagree that both sides are "just as bad." The progressives who want better healthcare and greater access to education can hardly be compared to fascists who want to strip human rights away, remove healthcare options for women, and ban any book that even dares to mention LGBTQ people in any way, shape, or form (always excluding the bible so they can wipe their filthy asses with god's wisdom).
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