For #English, #英語. False equivalence! This is comparing two or more things to make a political point (or similar) when those two things are not in the same category. #Idiom: Comparing apples to oranges. You may see the term once in a while, but you see the "thing" VERY often.
I just finished reading an article about a university taking down a flag a student hung outside of his window because it was a so-called Gadsden Flag and people found it offensive, but the university justified removal saying no other flags were allowed to be hung out of windows.
OK then. So when rainbow flags were left hanging outside of student windows, that's comparing apples to apples. The original student is making a complaint on that basis. HOWEVER... the article then showed a picture of the university hanging a rainbow flag above the door to...
...its very own Arts Center. The university can fly what flags it wants all day long, it owns the property. This is a FALSE EQUIVALENCE. No matter where you stand on the issue itself, only student flag vs. student flag is applicable. If others are left standing = apple vs. apple
So I hope this explains for #English purposes what false equivalence is and how to recognize it in the wild (in the real world, outside the bounds of academia). Who is right isn't the point (here) - it's that the concept is central to understanding bias in articles. Important!
Let's test this for fun. @threadreaderapp unroll
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