Today’s Lesson: "False Equivalence"

There have been a lot of folks comparing all sorts of people and actions and claiming they are one and the same. If you know much about “false equivalence,” then you know that there may be one attribute (or a few) that is similar between two seemingly relatable things, but that in no way makes them equal.
Let’s take the obvious. Trump is the next Hitler. Not true. Not close. Yes, both are ego driven. But one killed 6 million people in the Holocaust and believed that one race was superior to others; thus. genocide ensued. No matter what you think of Mr. Trump—it’s not close. Not in the same discussion. Separating children from families seeking asylum is an awful, despicable means to an end. Not equivalence by any standard and the mainstream media knows it and they do not argue that it is.
However, Fox News (Faux News to some) was not so charitable to President Obama and NPR. They along with others made this comparison: “Recall that Fox News chief Roger Ailes accused the management of National Public Radio of having "a kind of Nazi attitude" when it fired commentator Juan Williams. Former Fox host Glenn Beck immersed himself in odious Hitler rhetoric during Obama's first years in office, while the then-burgeoning Tea Party movement did the same. (See photo) And so did Rush Limbaugh, who obsessed over Obama-Nazi comparisons in 2009: "Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate." Hmm.
Even a sitting U.S. Congressman said in 2015: “Criticizing President Obama for not attended the Sunday solidarity march in Paris in the wake of last week's terror attacks, Republican Congressman Randy Weber (R-TX) yesterday took the debate to absurd and offensive levels when he tweeted that "Even Adolph Hitler thought it more important than Obama to get to Paris. (For all the wrong reasons.) Obama couldn't do it for right reasons." See. The two events have NOTHING to do with the other.
Then there is the Obama is just like Nixon --wiretapping Trump. (See Photo)Or the criticism that President Obama was a Muslim and was part of the terrorist plot to destroy America according to many far right media heads. Why? Because he bowed to the Saudi King. They were mute when this picture came across their TV. (See photo)





You may be thinking, well, all this is obvious. Let’s try on some new editions of “False Equivalence: Today.”
The Huffington Postwrote about climate change: “False equivalence is what happens when you are led to believe that two things should be given equal weight in your considerations as you come to any given decision, while those two things are not in any way actually equivalent. For example, let us consider the matter of climate change. John Oliver, on his HBO program Last Week With John Oliver, debunked the usual cable TV false equivalence in this issue dramatically last year. While today’s media tends to have one ‘expert’ present each ‘side’ of an argument, Oliver pointed out that, in the case of climate change, where 99/100 scientists agree that it is real and caused by humans, this one vs. one presentation creates a clear misconception for the viewer: a false equivalence. So he did the truly ‘fair and balanced’ thing: he had 99 scientists argue against 1 in favor of man-made climate change.
Interesting note. E, J. Dionne penned this: “Conservatives who have refused to break decisively with Trump ought to be ashamed of themselves because in doing so, they are violating the core principles laid down by one of their heroes, Jeane Kirkpatrick, who was President Reagan’s ambassador to the United Nations. It was Kirkpatrick who in 1985 wrote an essay revered on the right called, “The Myth of Moral Equivalence.” Yes, she was writing about the old Soviet Union, not today’s Russia, but her points on false equivalences resonate still, given the nature of Putin’s rule.”
Ms. Kirkpatrick knew then, as we know now, that saying that US intelligence’s opinions are equal to Putin’s “strong” words of denial. Only Mr. Trump does not get it.  Or he refuses to get it for reasons only he (and Putin) knows. However, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), gets Putin. He “offered these wonderfully acerbic and direct comments: ‘Other than destroying every instrument of democracy in his own country, having opposition people killed, dismembering neighbors through military force and being the benefactor of the butcher of Damascus, he’s a good guy.’”  So what is a real equivalence? Try copying Michelle Obama’s speech to the Press. (See photo)


Or the opinion of the “average” Joe Willmore: “Right now, Fox News is the US equivalent of the old Soviet state news channels, throwing out propaganda on many of its broadcasts, issuing orders to journalists to use phrases like ‘disputed theory of climate change.’”[ Only a few commentators like Chris Wallace and Shepard Smith seem to miss the memo recently.]
Even the argument that Obama was wasting taxpayers ‘ money or not wearing the right clothing became a comparison to his being among the worst presidents to serve according to Fox. Robert Hinklin, again just an ordinary American and not a media personality, explains: “Faux News got butt-hurt when Obama wore a tan suit. Was absolutely disgusted when a photo showed him at work in shirtsleeves with his feet placed on the desk. Was appalled when he was exiting the Marine One chopper with his hands full and returned a salute with the hand holding his coffee cup. And they were steadily dismayed at the waste of taxpayer money involved with Obama’s vacations and golf (most of which took place on military bases and cost the government nothing). Faux News seems not to have noticed that the Secret Service budget has been shattered by Trump’s golf outings, almost ALL of which have taken place on Trump owned properties, where the POTUS charges the government full tilt for room and board and golf carts for his SS protection.”
Perhaps one of the worst examples of false equivalence was the Nazi/ KKK march in Charlottesville. E.J. Dionne put it into perspective: “Trump's initial response on Saturday, in which he acknowledged there were "many sides," left many of us feeling unsatisfied. We wanted him to act presidential. We wanted him to clearly enunciate the threat and condemn it in the strongest and most unequivocal language. And he let us down. A White House e-mail to reporters sent out more than 36 hours after the assembly began was a pathetic excuse for a clear and swift condemnation of bigotry.” Both sides were not wrong. One side was. One side murdered a protester by ramming a car into her and running away like the coward he is.
He wasn’t the only coward.