‘Sanewashing’ a perfect word to describe 2024

On By Littum

Every December, the world’s dictionary publishers announce their “Word of the Year”.

This year’s nominees include: Brain Rot, Brat, Honorable, Decolonization, Polarization, Manifesto, Delulu and Romance – just like the kind of books your mee-maw used to read and didn’t think anyone knew about.

But they are all wrong.

In 2024, there is only one Word of the Year: “Sanwashing”, which is defined as the media’s attempt to normalize the nonsense uttered by a public figure, presumably to maintain access to them.

Invented by authors Parker Malloy and Aaron Rupar, sanewashing is mostly aimed at the national media, which appears to be in the throes of reconciliation. Because they live in mortal fear of alienating their shrinking audience, some outlets choose to gloss over some people’s drivel and nonsense, essentially daring the public to believe their own lying eyes.

It’s not their job. The role of journalism is to ensure the public’s right to know what they need to know and why it is important. Their responsibility is to hold people in power accountable by reporting exactly what they say and also what they actually do.

No one floods the zone with more bullying, bunking and downright gobbledygook than Donald Trump, but supporters of the president-elect have turned sandwashing into performance art:

  1. “He never said that.”
  2. “Even if he said it, he didn’t mean it.”
  3. “Even if he meant it, don’t be such a snowflake.”

Some saw washing is done by omission. President Joe Biden has had the fewest live news conferences of any president in recent memory and got away with it because the White House Press Corps has been virtually disenfranchised for fear of losing proximity and access. Presumably, White House advisers were playing hide-and-seek to protect Biden — who often misspoke — from himself, but it was to his detriment because it also prevented him from touting his accomplishments, which were many.

Companies practice their own brand of sandwashing when they use such ridiculous phrases as “customer service” and “team members”.

Sanewashing also includes walk-back. In the wake of the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, people who are supposed to be smart expressed support for the alleged killer, then made matters worse by trying to explain themselves. Among them was the University of Pennsylvania associate professor Yulia Alekseeva, who has been vilified for initially describing the suspect as an “icon”.

She has since apologized, but your mom was right – “sorry” doesn’t always solve everything.

A few eggheads have suggested that, in the face of fewer traditional news outlets and the rise of social media, we have become a “post-truth” society.

It’s just a washed-up way of saying that the truth no longer matters or has value.

Mark Twain once said that it is easier to fool a man than to convince him that he has been fooled. It means that people have always rejected the truth and facts. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist – and all the sand-washing in the world can’t change it.

Charita M. Goshay is a Canton Repository staff writer and member of the editorial board. Reach her at 330-580-8313 or [email protected]. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP.