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by korzun 3215 days ago
In most cultures, you don't criticize somebody for something while doing the exact opposite.

Whataboutism does not apply to 90% of conversations but don't tell that to people who think they are smart by bringing it up.

Whataboutism:

A) 'You interfered with our elections!!' B) 'You bombed a children hospital! What about that?'

NOT Whataboutism:

A) 'You interfered with our elections!! YOU HACKED OUR ELECTIONS!!! PUTIN ORDERED TO STEAL OUR VOTES!!! B) 'That's great, you have been doing the same thing for decades all over the world. Mind shutting up?'

2 comments

You make a poor point.

First, your definition of whataboutism doesn't jibe with ones in common use, such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism.

Second, your "NOT" example only works if A and B are equivalent, which, obviously they are not for several reasons. (the tactics and secrecy are different as are the elections.

Actually, you make a very poor point, when I consider the the insult you hurled at someone for daring to bring up whataboutism -- a term apparently invented to describe the tactic of deflecting criticism of Russian actions, which is exactly this situation.

Poor show.

Sorry, but I fail to see the difference between your contrived examples. And I'm amused that you think people are being pretentious for bringing up "whataboutism," when the term itself is arguably a colloquialism.