bothsidesism

English

Alternative forms

• both-sidesism
• both sidesism

Etymology

From both sides +‎ -ism.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bəʊθˈsaɪd.zɪ.zəm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /boʊθˈsaɪd.zɪ.zəm/

Noun

bothsidesism (plural bothsidesisms)

1. A tendency to treat all policy debates as if the opposing sides present equally strong arguments, or are equally valid or equally dangerous.
   • 2016, Paul Krugman, Both Sides Now?, The New York Times (July 18, 2016):

     And the reason is that too much of the news media still can't break with bothsidesism — the almost pathological determination to portray politicians and their programs as being equally good or equally bad, no matter how ludicrous that pretense becomes.

   • 2017, Justin Fox Being Sure You're Right Makes You Weaker, Bloomberg View (September 21, 2017):

     This is not the same as the dreaded bothsidesism, where you assign equal value to opposing positions and split the difference.

   • 2019 September 6, Jordan Weissman, “How Not to Fight Anti-Semitism”, in Slate‎^[1]:

     Unfortunately, she has used the attack as a launch pad for a bizarre and undercooked exercise in rhetorical bothsidesism, in which she argues that American Jews should be just as worried about college students who overzealously criticize Israel as they are about the aspiring Einsatzgruppen who shoot up shuls.

   Synonym: false balance

Synonyms

• bothsiderism
• bothsideism

See also

• both-sides (verb)
• bothsidesist
• view from nowhere
• whataboutism