To say that this has been a bizarre presidential campaign would be an understatement. According to the Emmy and Peabody Award winning journalist Soledad O’Brien, one of the disturbing side-effects of this bizarre campaign has been the re-introduction of white supremacy as a relevant political position.
In an interview on CNN’s Reliable Sources, Ms. O’Brien explains perfectly how the media has allowed this ugly phenomenon to crawl out from under its dark rock and fester.
In the segment, host Brian Stelter asked Ms. O’Brien if the Trump campaign’s resurrection of horrible ideas is a function of a tepid or ratings-hungry brand of journalism that suggests reporters are just “not calling it like it is; covering Trump like the unique candidate that he is.” Her response is spot on:
“I think it’s more the contortionists who try to make things seem equal all the time.”
As a science literacy advocate, I see this “false equivalence” technique deployed quite often when news outlets are discussing climate change.
For example, during a segment on global warming, a news show might bring on two scientists from each side of the debate, leading the viewer to believe that not only is there actually a scientific debate, but that it is split 50/50, when in reality at least 97 percent of climate scientists understand that climate change is real.
Ms. O’Brien continues to provide a perfect example of this by juxtaposing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump with reference to charges of “bigotry“:
“So if you look at Hillary Clinton’s speech where she basically pointed out that what Donald Trump has done, actually quite well, is normalize white supremacy – one of a long list of things that I think many Americans would find distasteful.”
When asked if she believes Clinton’s speech was accurate in making that charge, she continues:
“I think she made a very good argument, almost like a lawyer, [explaining] here are ways in which he has actually worked to normalize conversations that many people find hateful. Listen, I’ve seen on air, white supremacists being interviewed because they are Trump delegates and they do a five minute segment; the first minute or so talking about what they believe as white supremacists. So you have normalized that.”
She goes on to explain the false equivalency fallacy perfectly:
“Then Donald Trump will say, ‘Well Hillary Clinton, she’s a bigot.’ And it’s covered, the journalist part comes in, they trade barbs. He said she’s a bigot and she points out that he might be appealing to racists. It only becomes ‘he said, she said.’ When in actuality, the fact that Donald Trump said she’s a bigot without the long laundry list of evidence, which if you looked at Hillary Clinton’s speech, she actually did have a lot of really good factual evidence that we would all agree that are things that have happened and do exist. They are treated as if they are equal.”
Watch the entire segment below:
