https://reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/tj7h3p/oh_how_big_a_criminal_putin_is_for_waging_war_on/
‘Whataboutism’ is now as meaningless in online political discourse as ‘authoritarian’ and ‘tankie
yeah - they are all just methods of stigmatization. there was never anything academic about them.
I have no idea if there is any truth to this, but I always tell libs that the term "whataboutism" came from Russian trolls during the 2016 elections. Give it a try next time - they don't even question the veracity of that statement.
Also, protip: You can blame pretty much anything you want on Russian trolls from 2016 and libs will believe it.
Had a friend legitimately tell me that the Russian government had people posting negative reviews of The Last Jedi lol
I think "whataboutism" is one of my most hated words/concepts in the entire fucking planet, it's one of the most cowardly fake arguments that libs love to use
“Don’t you know, when discussing a topic it’s actually a logical fallacy to bring up relevant information about a similar situation and compare and contrast” :so-true:
No, the point is that there are never any consequences for the violence and destruction that US foreign policy causes around the world. And when you watch that violence in real time (if we are lucky enough to even see it reported) we think we are the good guys in this fucking marvel movie. No you stupid fuck, we are the baddies. Nothing any other country does will ever come close to the destruction we’ve inflicted.
Also, looking at things like Iraq could show these object permanence lacking disphits that "sanctioning a regime back to the stone age" never fucking works. There were a few rare instances were it did work, like with Iran, who became compliant with IAEA regulations due to the sanctions imposed on them, but guess what, America completely wrecked that approach all by itself because Iran only complied out of a hope that these sanctions would be lifted, that their compliance would be reciprocated. That doesn't work when the US has just proven that it still does not honor contracts.
So calls of "whataboutism" can immunize a population against learning from their historic mistakes. That's what is happening rn with libs. They become as indoctrinated, detached from reality and prone to ideological mistake as historical fascists. They're turning themselves into this -> :frothingfash: and when i tell them, they say i'm a tankie and a russian bot and a trumpist wumao. they refuse to listen, they refuse to understand, they refuse reality itself. trump derangement syndrome is real. libs have become the monsters they've been fighting since 2016.
That’s what is happening rn with libs. They become as indoctrinated, detached from reality and prone to ideological mistake as historical fascists.
:astronaut-1:
justify
idealists are focusesed on moralism, their project is justifying why they DESERVE to sit on a pile of surplus human value. beacuse they have good manners, because they studied, because they worked hard, etc etc etc. just don't consider material conditions or what might have been if they were different
The beauty of Reddit is a place for people to discuss, counter- and sometimes re-evaluate their thoughts
lmao, whats with redditors and jerking over how their site is the best thing that ever happened to the internet
A place for affluent emotionally stunted IT-associated white men
Ouch. That hits a little close to home.
the two broad positions on geopolitical affairs are "believe in whataboutism/gaslighting" and "don't believe in whataboutism/gaslighting."
I remember when the New Statesmen were justifying war with Syria using similar logic. They said we couldn't judge one conflict with the errors of another. But the conflict in Syria was like literally the exact same conflict as Iraq, just spilled over. Assaad was fighting Isis that rose up from the Iraq war and we wanted to fight Assad on the side of Isis, but Russia stepped in and asked us not to.
People keep posting links on this site and I keep clicking on them like a dumbass.
