Floater Centrism

The media has difficulties countering lies. George Lakoff recommends countering lies with "Truth Sandwiches":

START. Start with the truth. MIDDLE. Indicate the lie is a lie. FINISH: End with the truth. If you don't do that, if you just repeat a slogan and say it is false, it tends to become even stickier in listener's minds.

The media also has difficulties reporting fairly in unbalanced situations. Media want to examine both sides, to be seen by viewers as having examined both sides. What if the news isn't balanced? What if one side does all the lying? When the truth is one-sided, reporters report in a heavily biased way just to look not biased. We should add a "Standards Sandwich" to the "Truth Sandwich."

Take a look at Cannon Thomas, Ph.D's Politics and the Catastrophe of Us and Them: We have to change the way we view the opposing party for our nation to thrive. The article favors what I call "floater" centrism: it lists a whole bunch of acts of violence all by one side, and draws the conclusion that we're all equivalent (floating between the parties) instead of cal

An awful lot of us are pissed off at partisanship coming from politicians — and our friends.

The ideals of a democracy where we talk to each other and are all trying to make this country better, with different views of how to make the country better, they are failing. The center is not holding.