I think a big problem news orgs have with describing Nazi salutes is that it puts two conventions in conflict one: Nazis are Bad this is basically the only thing news orgs are allowed to describe as unequivocally Bad two: you are not allowed to describe either side as Good or Bad, just conflicted - ThreadSky

rincewind.run • 1 day ago

I think a big problem news orgs have with describing Nazi salutes is that it puts two conventions in conflict

one: Nazis are Bad

this is basically the only thing news orgs are allowed to describe as unequivocally Bad

two: you are not allowed to describe either side as Good or Bad, just conflicted

Reposted from the Mountain Goats

for the love of God. fucking honestly. “controversial salute.” it’s a nazi stiff arm salute. literally everybody knows this. “controversial” is a chickenshit word generally (what purpose does its use serve? hint: an editorial, not journalistic one) but when we’re talking about public nazi shit gah

Comments

grudgie.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yes you can’t describe Republicans as they are because they are very very bad and describing them as such, and factually, is BIAS

pdelahanty.bsky.social•1 day ago

Elon could show up in straight-up blackface and news orgs would say he was “wearing a dark self-tanning product”.

herefornow02.bsky.social•1 day ago

The bothsidesism of American media that gave us intelligent design, 25 years delay in climate change awareness, vaccines are killing us, prayers can stop school shootings, a balanced debate around Iraq's WM... oops sorry not that one... is now giving us fascism in America.
Thanks editorial boards 👏👏

herefornow02.bsky.social•1 day ago

I forgot "congress is broken"

mucho-maas.bsky.social•1 day ago

I think you're getting to the core corrosive force in American media now: "if one describes how things are accurately, then they'd need to admit sizeable portions of America's majority culture are bad."

pamnapo.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Why is it that they can say “the left” has an antisemitism problem then? Antisemitism is not bad? I don’t think so. They can say whatever they damn well want to about one side, the Dems, it’s the other side that they won’t be critical of.

edivimo.bsky.social•17 hours ago

Radical Centrism.

They need to make that extra effort because the "goodness" of the ideological center and/or neutrality is self-evident and desirable.

billypilgrim65.bsky.social•1 day ago

You are not allowed to describe GOP as bad. Dems are fine to shit on

flashgordon.bsky.social•1 day ago

this whole shit is the escalation of that "ok" hand sign shit that started a few years back... except that at least had a previous benign cultural meaning that was leaned on for "plausible" deniability. like, do musk/bannon have to get swastika tattoos, or would the media call that "controversial"?

darrelplant.bsky.social•1 day ago

STARDATE 2452.9. The Enterprise completes its mission on Nitewapo 4, a planet controlled by an out-of-control news media computer that we brought down with the old Nazi salute reporting paradox…

ilkefingers.bsky.social•1 day ago

This is a bit of a slippery slope TBH. I could easily argue that these are also Nazi salutes. 🤷🏻‍♂️

rincewind.run•1 day ago

if you describe someone doing a Nazi salute, then you are describing them as Bad, but you can't describe them as Bad

so it has to be 'controversial' or 'provocative' or anything but what it clearly factually is, because that would be Bad

oggie.bsky.social•1 day ago

I feel like the swing on this is going to end up being Nazi salutes aren't always bad actually, and the temptation to just walk into the ocean will be high.

Just .. ugh.

inanedragon.bsky.social•1 day ago

Add in the cowardly worry of being subject to defamation lawsuits. You say a salute was "controversial", you've covered your ass for the shareholders. You call a nazi a nazi, the nazi might sue you. In a court system that is rapidly being nazified. from the top down.

dryone.bsky.social•1 day ago

It's also a sloppy Nazi salute. So it's bad in intention and execution.

ryanhumphrey.bsky.social•1 day ago

Also, once you openly label them as Nazis, it precludes you from doing the fluff-piece stories that make up a big chunk of political reporting. Even for NYT reporters, the cognitive dissonance would be too great

zypofaeser.bsky.social•23 hours ago

If someone is objectively bad, you can describe them as bad.

zparks.bsky.social•22 hours ago

It is litigable. You can say I was doing the Hokey Pokey, and even if I weren’t you’d probably be ok. If you say I was doing a nazi salute when I was actually doing the Hokey Pokey, defamation. Right?

In this case, they are actually doing a nazi salute salute. So the press should report on reality.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply