Most “whataboutism” isn’t that

When I see controversial topics discussed online, things get called out as “whataboutism” which ends any possible further discussion.

But usually, it was just someone furthering the discussion.

Examples include a discussion about religious freedoms, largely from the American Christian viewpoint, and someone pointed out that there are other religions that have “high holidays” that don’t get the legal consideration that Christmas gets. The response was to “get your whataboutism out of here, we’re not talking about other religions”. Another I saw was about woman’s rights, and someone pointed out that the particular law affected people who aren’t women. Instead of discussing how that affects efforts around changing that law, it got called “whataboutism” and people piled on, dismissing the cogent reply with useful insights. Another was about climate change and the practices around farming milk. Someone pointed out that current practices farming almonds is also very bad for the climate – and it is – again “whataboutism”. And that’s it. No more discussion.

And piling on – it’s become a thought terminating cliché.

Whataboutism is when someone says that the original thing isn’t actually bad because “what about” some other thing that’s also bad. Whataboutism isn’t just pointing out that there are related things that are also bad, it also needs to be deflection from the point – if it’s adding to the point, it’s just discussion.

Edit for typo