Recent controversies surrounding Ronna McDaniel and Candace Owens show how the media struggles to handle the increasingly extreme right.
  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    231·
    8 months ago

    There is no “both sides” about true things.

    There is no “both sides” about climate change. The Earth is warming and humans are the cause.

    There’s no “both sides” about vaccination. Vaccines help the immune system either prevent or reduce the severity of viral infections.

    There’s no “both sides” about the 2020 election. Joe Biden won the election.

    And yet the media pretends all of those things have two sides.

    • OccamsRazer@lemmy.world
      211·
      8 months ago

      There’s almost always a both sides, or even infinite positions on complex topics. With the election it’s pretty straightforward, either you believe in the system or you don’t, but the other examples you mentioned have tons of nuance to discuss when it comes to policy. What exactly do you do about climate change? And what about vaccines? Should you take all of them? Should everybody be forced to take all of them? What happens to you if you refuse? How about people with negative reactions to some vaccines? What about when certain vaccines were found to have severe side effects and were later removed? There’s risk/benefit to be discussed and the question isn’t nearly as simple as right and wrong. This is true for most topics, and assuming that one political party embodies the truth on every topic, that’s it’s the best approach for every person, is naive at best. There must be discussion, at least a progressive voice and a conservative one in order to avoid stagnation in the latter and over reaction in the former.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        2·
        8 months ago

        All of your questions about vaccines have nothing to do with the both-sides-ism in the media where they bring someone on who says vaccines work and another person on who says it doesn’t.

        Why are you not aware of this? You’re on c/news so you must be a news consumer…

        There is truth and there is fiction. Being a conservative or a progressive has no reflection on what is true and what is not, no matter how much the media (and you apparently) want to think otherwise.

        • OccamsRazer@lemmy.world
          14·
          8 months ago

          Progressive and conservative are two different approaches for policy. If the truth is known then there is no point discussing it. If the truth is unclear or the implications of that truth are unclear, then there needs to be discussion.

          Your example about both sidesism, bringing on an anti vaxxer, is either a deliberate straw man or a minor example that isn’t a good representative of the media trying to discuss both sides.

          But your last point I agree with completely. Neither progressives nor conservatives have the complete truth.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
            1·
            8 months ago

            Your example about both sidesism, bringing on an anti vaxxer, is either a deliberate straw man or a minor example that isn’t a good representative of the media trying to discuss both sides.

            It happened constantly during COVID. Where were you?

            And now we have two antivaxxers running for president. One with a good chance of winning. And they get to talk about their “side” in the news too. Often unchallenged.

            I don’t know how you can not be aware of this.

            But your last point I agree with completely. Neither progressives nor conservatives have the complete truth.

            That’s not what I said. It’s also wrong.

            It is completely true that global warming is happening and humans are the cause no matter how much conservatives want to deny it.