Glossary
Whataboutism
A deflection technique that responds to a criticism by accusing the critic of a comparable or worse failing — often unrelated.
Whataboutism evades the actual claim by changing the subject. The structure is always the same: "What about [other thing]?" The substantive question is left unanswered. It is sometimes legitimate (hypocrisy is a real argument) but more often a rhetorical sleight that lets the original claim go uncontested. Common Soviet-era tactic in propaganda; widely adopted in modern political discourse. The defense is procedural: acknowledge the second point briefly if valid, then return to the first. "You may be right about X, but we were discussing Y." See also: strawman, steel-manning.
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