Whataboutism is commonly deployed when an argument is seen as a battle to be received and never a debate. Prostock-studio | Shutterstock
Whataboutism is an argumentative tactic the place an individual or group responds to an accusation or troublesome query by deflection. As an alternative of addressing the purpose made, they counter it with “however what about X?”.
As bickering {couples} and fogeys of siblings will know, this occurs in day by day life all too usually. “You lied about the place you have been final night time!” an individual feeling wronged will say. To which, as a substitute of proudly owning up, the companion replies: “Properly, what about you? You mislead me on a regular basis!”
Equally, in response to being advised off for the state of her room, one little one’s whataboutist reply can be to say: “However what about my brother’s room? His is worse.”
It occurs on social media, in politics and in societal and worldwide battle too. To wit, UK prime minister Boris Johnson, in February 2022. In response to Keir Starmer’s accusation of wrongdoing in relation to the partygate affair, Johnson sought to deflect consideration by (falsely) accusing Starmer of failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile throughout his time as director of public prosecutions.
Media commentators have rightly identified that Johnson was merely adopting what one journalist referred to as Donald Trump’s “favorite dodge”. When criticised, Trump would normally deflect consideration by claiming that another person was worse.
The rise of social media and rising political polarisation might effectively have made whataboutism extra seen. However it’s actually not a brand new tactic. It was, in actual fact, taught by the sophists, a bunch of lecturers, writers and lecturers in Greece, over 2,500 years in the past.
In some restricted circumstances it could be a respectable tactic, for instance, when it’s related to spotlight that the individual making the accusation has a bias. For essentially the most half, nonetheless, even when the individual making the accusation is a hypocrite or has double requirements, this doesn’t imply that their accusation is fake.
Origins of whataboutism
The precise time period was first utilized in print by a reader named Lionel Bloch in 1978 in a letter to the Guardian. “Sir,” writes Bloch, “your chief [article], East, West and the plight of the warring relaxation (Might 18), is the best piece of ‘whataboutism’ I’ve learn in a few years.” He goes on to decry using this tactic as a “Soviet import” utilized by “progressive minds” to defend communism.
However Bloch’s utilization derives from earlier makes use of of comparable phrases. In a letter to the Irish Occasions revealed on January 30 1974, reader Sean O’Conaill complains about using the tactic by IRA defenders, to whom he refers to as “the Whatabouts”. Three days later, the Irish journalist John Healy revealed a column in the identical paper, on the identical matter, dubbing the tactic “Whataboutery”.
Formally talking, whataboutism is a fallacy most carefully associated to the advert hominem fallacy, whereby an individual responds to an accusation by attacking the individual making it.
It’s a fallacy as a result of even when the counter-accusation is true, it doesn’t defend whoever is being accused (the mendacity companion, the messy little one, Donald Trump) within the first place. At greatest, it reveals that each events behaved shamefully. And, after all, two wrongs don’t make a proper.
Whataboutism was, as one journalist put it, Donald Trump’s favorite dodge when confronted with exhausting questions.
Evan El-Amin | Shutterstock
In philosophy, an argument is a reasoned debate aimed toward reality. However in lots of different contexts, folks usually don’t view arguments on this approach. They view them, relatively, as battles to be received. Their objective is to get their opponent to concede as a lot as potential with out their conceding something themselves.
Seen on this approach, whataboutism is an efficient technique. It really works on the precept that offence is one of the best type of defence. By launching a counter-attack, you place your opponent on the again foot.
Why whataboutism is so common
Psychologists counsel that this view of arguments is prevalent in political debate as a result of it’s pushed by partisan bias. When confronted by an opponent with a special political viewpoint, you usually tend to view what they are saying as an assault to be countered, relatively than a degree to be debated.
Extra pernicious is when whataboutism is put to work as a misinformation software.
For the reason that chilly warfare period Russian propagandists have responded to criticism of Russian insurance policies by instantly mentioning that western international locations have comparable insurance policies.
The identical ploy is routinely seen in different battle conditions. Chinese language propagandists have used it to deflect criticism of how China’s Uyghur inhabitants is handled. Junta propagandists in Myanmar have used it equally when criticised for the regime’s therapy of Rohingya muslims. The checklist goes on.
The sophists have been the propagandists of historic instances. They prided themselves on having the ability to persuade an viewers – utilizing any means obtainable, together with whataboutism – of any conclusion, regardless of its reality.
Plato was an ardent critic of the sophists. He vehemently made the purpose that arguments needs to be aimed toward reality. His most well-known work on this respect is the Gorgias dialogue, which sees Socrates and Callicles debate the great and evil of man. Fittingly, it comprises the earliest instance of whataboutism that I’ve been capable of finding and one of the best response to it:
Socrates: You’re breaking your unique promise, Callicles. If what you say contradicts what you actually assume, your worth as my companion in looking for the reality can be at an finish.
Callicles: You don’t all the time say what you assume both, Socrates.
Socrates: Properly, if that’s true, it solely makes me simply as dangerous as you …
Benjamin Curtis doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or organisation that may profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their educational appointment.
