"Equivalating" -- how the media and GOP combat the reality-based world

[lwcon]

Equivalating may not be a real word. But it's a real problem — quite possibly the single biggest problem in our national media and discourse.

Let's define it thusly:

1. The knee-jerk assumption that competing sides, especially political parties, are equally extreme, equally guilty, etc.

This approach minimizes public outrage when one side has blatantly or repeatedly misbehaved. It is beneficial not only to wrongdoers and their supporters, but also to media outlets that thrive on continued argument, rather than on problem resolution.

2. Treating a dubious position as arguably equivalent to a legitimate one.

Dignifying questionable claims and disreputable agendas provides sensational fodder for an increasingly entertainment-focused news media. It also brings those claims and agendas within striking distance of acceptability.

A good example of the former is Joe Klein's comparing the sober Daily Kos blog to right-wing shock-jock Rush Limbaugh, after Limbaugh mocked Michael J. Fox's physical impairment.

The latter variation was instrumental in queering the last presidential election, with the incessant repetition of the Swift Boat Veterans' claims against John Kerry, despite overwhelming evidence that those claims were false.

Equivalating is, IMHO, one of the prime ways in which the right wing has been turning fair into foul and vice versa for these many misbegotten years.

An outgrowth of the devolution from news to infotainment, equivalation is more powerful than such time-honored bullshitting techniques as "the straw man," because it is propelled by the media itself. The incentives are obvious: they have far more to gain from chewing on a story for days or months, regardless of its truth, than from nipping it in the bud. Yes, there's the old "public good" ideal, but I wax nostalgic.

It's quite clear that it matters little to today's news outlets that equivalation confers broad legitimacy to ideas, claims, and people that otherwise could not possibly earn such credibility. Perhaps you can think of some examples of this.

As Jon Stewart said so aptly in 2004, "we need help from the media and they're huuuuuurting us." (video)

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[DeepModem Mom]

1. Your post highlights a MAJOR problem! Thank you.

As for examples, there are way too many. Watch CNN and MSNBC at anytime there is a discussion, and what you will see is exactly what you describe. It's utterly ridiculous, and a shockingly irresponsible practice by the press.

[lwcon]

2. Thank you

BTW, my tongue was firmly in cheek about "Perhaps you can think of some examples of this" (though it might be fun to collect people's pet examples).

We're bombarded with examples of this 24/7, yet as best as I can tell, this phenomenon has never been called out in a simple way that let's us say "you're doing x, the way you can if someone makes a straw man argument, compares apples to oranges, etc.

I hope "equivalation" will catch on, because we need a quick way to call these guys on it.

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[Zodiak]

3. Favorites

1. Abramoff sure was a snake in the grass and he gave a lot of money to Republicans, but it has caught up Democrats, too.

2. Bush tortures people, but then again, in wartime FDR detained the Japanese-americans.

3. The amount of dead US soldiers in Iraq is no different than the nuber of homocides in Detroit.

4. Yeah, Bush uses free speech zones to stifle his opposition, but Clinton started them.

5. Insert "yeah, but Clinton..." here

There are literally hundreds of examples, and I haven't even started with the second definition of the term.

[lwcon]

4. Those are great examples

I think for the second definition, there can be no better example of the media's insistence on making everything into a horserace is dignifying the position that GWB was a viable alternative to any imaginable candidate. The bending over backwards to treat him like a legitimate candidate was surreal, and it shows the power of equivalation, that it actually did get him close enough that they could steal the election.

And, of course, the legitimization of the Iraq War as a part of "The Global War on Terror" is way the hell up there, with results that are now painfully clear to all but the most completely insane.

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