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Hi, it’s me your friendly history major who concentrated on Cold War era Soviet history. If you attempt to defend Trump’s behavior by bringing up examples of Obama’s behavior (“He called the Baltimore protesters thugs too”, as one example) you are engaging in “whataboutism.”
Yes, that’s the real name.
It is a logical fallacy that the Soviet Union famously used as part of its propaganda. It is an attempt to show the hypocrisy in an opponents’ argument without directly refuting or disproving their argument. Similar to ad hominem attacks.
The goal is distraction. The goal is to take away from the at-hand situation & instigate debate over a past (often already condemned) issue in order to divert attention from the current issue.
It’s famous because it worked. For years. Brilliantly. But it is a LOGICAL. FALLACY. You can’t do that shit in court, or in an ethics debate, or in your LSAT test, because it is a FALLACY.
In layman’s terms, it’s complete bullshit. & it applies here as in many other cases (I see it a lot a lot a lot in abortion debates as well).
So if that is your defense in this or any argument, just know, you lost. You might get a reaction, you might feel like you showed your ace, but in reality, you showed your ass.
Just a friendly reminder. Peace & love.
PS: this tells you all you need to know about this administration.
