How to know when media are ‘sanewashing’ politics

OTTAWA—The newest term of the day is "sanewashing"—when media does backflips to try to logically re-interpret into policy what former U.S. president Donald Trump says when all he really did was bafflegab. Picture The Muppets and the “Mahna Mahna” song—now you’ll never get that song out of your head today! The character with the orange hair is about 20 seconds into his song and goes completely off-script singing nonsense, and his backup singers the Snowths look at him with incredulity. It’s pretty difficult to not look incredulously on as Trump sounds mad as a hatter. How did we get here, after all? How has the Republican Party fallen so far? If he was your uncle at the family dinner talking smack, you’d be incredulous. Offended. You probably would ask him to stop that in front of the kids, and likely ask him to leave. But then the U.S. media and some on this side of the border try to fit his square debate meanderings into the round shape of policy, and try as they might, it doesn’t fit. Sanewashing does nobody any good, least of all the public. It’s a bit like rationalizing away bad behaviour—it doesn’t resolve anything, all it does is tell others that bad behaviour has no consequence. For all the Republican/conservative screams about an alleged liberal bias in the media, let’s be clear that it doesn’t exist. Otherwise we would have seen 10 media outlets question Trump's fitness for duty. Do we have a similar problem of sanewashing politicians in Canada? Well, a few examples come to mind. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre continues to spin conspiracy theories for applause. No, the World Economic Forum is not controlling people’s minds. Even former prime minister Stephen Harper saw the benefit of networking and learning on an international level, and continues to do so. No, the government is not invading people’s privacy and financial decisions with a proposed digital ID. Good lord, the government can barely control its own finances, and totally messed up the First Nations status card system with years-long backlogs, so good luck with a digital ID! Trump has inflamed the conspiracy theorists, as well as Americans who feel left out. Let’s be clear, lots of Americans are left out of economic growth and a sense of belonging. But we have that problem here in Canada. The whole impetus of reconciliation is to build belonging for Indigenous Peoples. So we are also at risk in Canada of a political leader banking on the fears of those who feel left out, using conspiracy to stoke those fears into votes, but never actually dealing with the policy issue of lack of inclusion. Inclusion is for all, not just for the convoy donations, or the Bay Street donations, just to balance the parties. Just once, I’d love to see a national political leader chasing Indigenous votes and inclusion with the same enthusiasm as Bay Street or Convoy people. It is not a future and far-away danger if white supremacists infiltrate a national political party, it’s a here-and-now danger for anybody they target—Indigenous Peoples, LGBTQ2S+, racial minorities, and strong women who lead. It’s a here-and-now problem for all of us. This is not the time to uncomfortably ignore the embarrassing uncle at dinner. This is the time to spell out what professional and ethical behaviour is expected from politics. It’s time we stopped the embarrassed and awkward bystanding when politicians blather nonsense and conspiracies. We can’t be part of the problem here. How can we be part of a solution? How can we hold political leaders to the standard of facts and evidence? Rose LeMay is Tlingit from the West Coast and the CEO of the Indigenous Reconciliation Group. She writes twice a month about Indigenous inclusion and reconciliation. In Tlingit worldview, the stories are the knowledge system, sometimes told through myth and sometimes contradicting the myths told by others. But always with at least some truth. The Hill Times

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How to know when media are ‘sanewashing’ politics

It’s time we stopped the embarrassed and awkward bystanding when politicians blather nonsense and conspiracies.

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