Whataboutism

 

There is a disturbing rhetorical technique that folks are using when discussing politics of any kind on social medias. And it's not just the usual medias but in person face-to-face encounters as well. It's a technique that has been around forever.

Whataboutism or whataboutery (as in "what about...") is a pejorative term for the strategy of responding to an accusation with a counteraccusation instead of a defense against the original accusation. Or, in simple terms, a noun which means a conversational tactic in which a person responds to an argument or attack by changing the subject to focus on someone else's misconduct, implying that all criticisms are valid because no one is completely blameless: excusing your mistakes with whataboutism is not the same as defending your record.

In psychology, whataboutism is often deployed when an argument is seen as a battle to be won and not a debate. Whataboutism is an argumentative tactic where a person or group responds to an accusation or difficult question by a DEFLECTION, according to Benjamin Curtis, of Nottingham Trent University.

People who often are unsure of their argument or conscious how weak their arguments are, will often deflect criticizing someone or something that they hold dear to themselves. So there is an inherent sense of emotion going on that becomes harder to deal with rationally by both sides.

Here is a great link to consider whataboutism in definition, examples, etymology, etc:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/whataboutism