WHATABOUTISM, Old Soviet Propaganda Made New Again by Trump

Whataboutism (also known as whataboutery) is a variant of the tu quoque logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent's position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument.


John Oliver did a fantastic job of summing up the fallacy:

"whataboutism," a fallacy with roots in old Soviet propaganda that shifts any given topic to another, potentially irrelevant one.

"It implies that all actions regardless of context share a moral equivalency," says Oliver.

Whataboutism: The practice of changing the subject to someone else's perceived wrongdoing.

"And since nobody is perfect, all criticism is hypocritical and everyone should do whatever they want ...

It doesn't solve a problem or win an argument.

The point is just to muddy the waters, which just makes the other side mad."

"A defense attorney could not stand up in court and say 'maybe my client did murder those people, but what about Jeffrey Dahmer? What about Al Capone? What about the guy from Silence of the Lambs? I rest my case.'"

"EVEN IF you believe that Democrats are guilty of a double standard, the solution is not to have no standard whatsoever,"

Whataboutism is explained by John Oliver at the 6:20 Minute mark:



Roy Moore? Whatabout Bill Clinton?

Russian Collusion? Whatabout Hillary Clinton?

Neo Nazi lunatic running down a crowd with their car? Whatabout left wing protestors getting violent?

Ad Infinium ..


en.wikipedia.org...

Also here:
Trump Embraces One Of Russia's Favorite Propaganda Tactics — Whataboutism
www.npr.org...

The idea, Dubrovsky posited, is that a populist leader wants to keep his masses of supporters on his side. Getting too specific on a policy or a position risks creating rifts within that base of support. Pointing to a common enemy, on the other hand, is a great way to unify a group.

Whataboutism flattens moral nuances into a black-and-white worldview.

But in this worldview, it's very difficult to be the good guy; idealism is the ultimate naïveté, and anyone who dares to criticize another can be "unmasked" as a hypocrite.

This creates a useful moral equivalency, as Nikitin added: if nobody is perfect, there's license to do all sorts of imperfect things.

well what about it then ?

Never heard of it but I do use the fuhgeddaboudit method when reading these types of threads.

Oh, so like the left loons yelling “What about Russia, Russia, Russia...”. Pahleeeeezzzze!

Putin has trained is sith apprentice well...

Whataboutabubblegum?

Saul Alinsky.

Blame your opponent of doing what you yourself are doing.

originally posted by: Lab4Us
Oh, so like the left loons yelling “What about Russia, Russia, Russia...”. Pahleeeeezzzze!

Loons?

We aint the ones who BELIEVED in "pizzagate" and THEN turn around and defend pedophiles running for the senate, while boycotting the NFL for being more patriotic than most GOP voters by actually exercising their rights...

Isn't there a STARBUCKS CUP to protest or something right now

originally posted by: knowledgehunter0986
Whataboutabubblegum?

That requires a lot of gumption.

a reply to: soberbacchus

Shouldn't Roy Moor be proven guilty before he is not allowed to run for Senate? Al Franken admitted what he did, but doesn't seem to think he should step down as Senator.

Bill Clinton was proven to have lied about what happened, and the left thought it would be good to run his Wife for office. The thing that the very liberal John Oliver doesn't seem to get about all of this, is the hypocrisy from the left.

John Oliver is a tool.

the "wealthy" have won....the poor and middle class now need to get ready to protect as much of their own meager assets as possbile

a reply to: soberbacchus

John Oliver is a hack as far as I am concerned, and illustrates the problem quite nicely.

First, to pretend this happens only on the right is a joke.

Sure, someone says Roy Moore, and many right wingers say what about Bill.

But you say al franken, and many left wingers say what about trump.

This argument sucks on both sides.

The russia stuff is even more comical.

It was many on the left that first said before the election that if anyone complained about the legitimacy of an election they would hurt democracy, as they assumed Hillary would win and trump would make those arguments.

Then when hillary lost, they did exactly that, and complained that trump working with Russians to get dirt on hillary was the biggest deal in the world, and warrants a huge investigation.

Then when it is shown thathillary and the dems did this too, now we get clowns like Oliver saying we can't point out the hypocrisy or it is whataboutism.

Well he has been all over trump and russia. So I assume he will devote just as much time to Hillary's and the dnc getting dirt on trump from russia.

I mean assuming he actually cares about weeding out all Russian influence.

But we know he doesn't. He cares about being a political cheerleader who walks lock step with every other left wing late night host, and getting atta boys from his left wing peer group.

So excuse me if I take his opinion with a large train of salt.

originally posted by: DanteGaland

originally posted by: Lab4Us
Oh, so like the left loons yelling “What about Russia, Russia, Russia...”. Pahleeeeezzzze!

Loons?

We aint the ones who BELIEVED in "pizzagate" and THEN turn around and defend pedophiles running for the senate, while boycotting the NFL for being more patriotic than most GOP voters by actually exercising their rights...

Isn't there a STARBUCKS CUP to protest or something right now

Lol...wow, you sure assume a lot from my post that mentioned not one of those things...a PERFECT illustration of the OPs point on whataboutism. Thanks so much for helping me out!

originally posted by: DanteGaland

originally posted by: Lab4Us
Oh, so like the left loons yelling “What about Russia, Russia, Russia...”. Pahleeeeezzzze!

Loons?

We aint the ones who BELIEVED in "pizzagate" and THEN turn around and defend pedophiles running for the senate, while boycotting the NFL for being more patriotic than most GOP voters by actually exercising their rights...

Isn't there a STARBUCKS CUP to protest or something right now

Can you show me proof Moore is a pedophile?

If not, you are no better than the pizzagate believers you criticize.

And excercising free speech does not make someone a patriot.

By that logic, you would have to say the mere act of owning a firarm makes someone more patriotic.

A dumb argument.

Whataboutism is a way to force people not to put context on any issue.

It's a method the left uses to avoid being called hypocrites.

originally posted by: 3daysgone
a reply to: soberbacchus

Shouldn't Roy Moor be proven guilty before he is not allowed to run for Senate? Al Franken admitted what he did, but doesn't seem to think he should step down as Senator.

Bill Clinton was proven to have lied about what happened, and the left thought it would be good to run his Wife for office. The thing that the very liberal John Oliver doesn't seem to get about all of this, is the hypocrisy from the left.

John Oliver is a tool.

Please don’t confuse the lefties with the principles of presumed innocence, the right to face your accuser in a court of law, and the rest of those pesky rights they are trying to destroy in America with their never ending march toward Socialism/Communism. Because they are all our dependents, don’t ya know...

a reply to: Grambler

Go protest Target and bitch about this years Starbucks cup.

TIS THE SEASON BRO.

originally posted by: 3daysgone
a reply to: soberbacchus

Shouldn't Roy Moor be proven guilty before he is not allowed to run for Senate? Al Franken admitted what he did, but doesn't seem to think he should step down as Senator.

Bill Clinton was proven to have lied about what happened, and the left thought it would be good to run his Wife for office. The thing that the very liberal John Oliver doesn't seem to get about all of this, is the hypocrisy from the left.

John Oliver is a tool.

Moore proven guilty?.....this isn't a court of law, it's about his fitness to being elected to a political position...he has already been struck down twice as being unfit to serve as a federal judge by the U.S. supreme court.....and yet, you think he should be elected into the senate to vote on federal legislation.....

nvm

originally posted by: DanteGaland
a reply to: Grambler

Go protest Target and bitch about this years Starbucks cup.

TIS THE SEASON BRO.

What?

So in other words, you have nothing relevant to say.

Yep op, clearly it's just those on the right that make deflections.