The Lie of Modern "Centrism"
September 14, 2012 at 2:24 pm
(This post was last modified: September 14, 2012 at 2:48 pm by DeistPaladin.)
...or the "Yeah but both sides do it" Myth
Centrism is all the rage in the media these days. Even John Stewart, who's Rally to Restore Sanity in response to Glenn Beck, indulged in the notion that "both sides" are responsible for the impasse in our political discourse these days. It's easy to understand why. Both the media and political satirists like Stewart want to maintain an image in impartiality and the easiest way to do this is to go with the notion that "the truth lies somewhere in the middle."
While this truism may be a good rule-of-thumb for many situations, it's a fallacy to assume that it always applies. Sometimes one side is right and the other is wrong. Or worse, sometimes one side is right and the other has gone crazy. Excessive application of the "middle ground" assumption can play into the hands of extremists. In this case, it has moved our political discourse further and further to the right.
Look around and you see it everywhere. Conservatives get caught lying, advocating violence or being abusive bullies and the follow up, predictable as the day is long, will be "...but the Democrats...".
Here's the formula:
Step 1: Conservative gets caught lying, advocating violence or being abusive.
Step 2: Conservatives and their centrist counterparts go digging for some equivalent example among liberals.
Step 3: If the liberal example falls short, hype it up.
Example: "Sure Glenn Beck is insane but look how angry Keith Olbermann is".
Step 4: Ignore or downplay multiple other conservative examples of lies, abuse, or threats of violence.
Example: Paul Ryan's festival of lies during the RNC speech was labeled "over-reach" by the media.
Step 5: Conclude "see, both sides do it" and imply that conservative abuse can be excused. (EDIT: Or use it to run cover for conservatives).
Example: "OK, let's talk about issues now and not get side-tracked by Obama's birth certificate or Mitt Romney's taxes" (equivocating a wack-job conspiracy theory with a run-of-the-mill request by voters to see the tax returns of a candidate)
I'm personally fed up with this excuse. Both sides don't.
Centrism is all the rage in the media these days. Even John Stewart, who's Rally to Restore Sanity in response to Glenn Beck, indulged in the notion that "both sides" are responsible for the impasse in our political discourse these days. It's easy to understand why. Both the media and political satirists like Stewart want to maintain an image in impartiality and the easiest way to do this is to go with the notion that "the truth lies somewhere in the middle."
While this truism may be a good rule-of-thumb for many situations, it's a fallacy to assume that it always applies. Sometimes one side is right and the other is wrong. Or worse, sometimes one side is right and the other has gone crazy. Excessive application of the "middle ground" assumption can play into the hands of extremists. In this case, it has moved our political discourse further and further to the right.
Look around and you see it everywhere. Conservatives get caught lying, advocating violence or being abusive bullies and the follow up, predictable as the day is long, will be "...but the Democrats...".
Here's the formula:
Step 1: Conservative gets caught lying, advocating violence or being abusive.
Step 2: Conservatives and their centrist counterparts go digging for some equivalent example among liberals.
Step 3: If the liberal example falls short, hype it up.
Example: "Sure Glenn Beck is insane but look how angry Keith Olbermann is".
Step 4: Ignore or downplay multiple other conservative examples of lies, abuse, or threats of violence.
Example: Paul Ryan's festival of lies during the RNC speech was labeled "over-reach" by the media.
Step 5: Conclude "see, both sides do it" and imply that conservative abuse can be excused. (EDIT: Or use it to run cover for conservatives).
Example: "OK, let's talk about issues now and not get side-tracked by Obama's birth certificate or Mitt Romney's taxes" (equivocating a wack-job conspiracy theory with a run-of-the-mill request by voters to see the tax returns of a candidate)
I'm personally fed up with this excuse. Both sides don't.
Atheist Forums Hall of Shame:
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
