Whataboutism

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"Whataboutism" or "whataboutery" (as in, "but what about X?") refers to the propaganda strategy of responding to an accusation with a counter-accusation instead of offering an explanation or defense against the original accusation. It is an informal fallacy that the accused party uses to avoid accountability—whether attempting to distract by shifting the conversation's focus away from their behaviour or attempting to justify themselves by pointing to the similar behaviour (which may be true or false, but irrelevant) of their opponent or another party who is not the current subject of discussion. From a logical and argumentative point of view, whataboutism is a variant of the "tu quoque" pattern, a subtype of the ad hominem style of argument. The intent is often to distract from the topic's content (red herring). The goal may also be to question the justification for criticism and the critic's legitimacy, integrity, and fairness, which can discredit the criticism whether or not it is justified...

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