What About Whataboutism?

An Exercise in Distraction

Whataboutism: (noun)—the act or practice of responding to an accusation of wrongdoing by claiming that an offense committed by another is similar or worse (Merriam-Webster).

I must confess that I have become quite irritated with the prevalence of “whataboutism” in our public discourse. Whataboutism is an argument employed so as to not to have to make a serious argument. It is a way of trying to say something important without having to employ robust reflection on a matter of concern. In other words, whataboutism is intellectually lazy. Allow me to offer some of the problems with whataboutism:

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