How to fight on the internet — “Whataboutism” & “Ad Hominem” — And why we never have solutions.
Whataboutism refers to the practice of deflecting criticism by pointing to the misdeeds of others. Oxford Dictionaries defines it as “the technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counter-accusation or raising a different issue.”
History tells us that this method of counteracting arguments was first manifested in the Cold War (Soviet Union) — a tool for battling criticism with the cynicism, of sorts. Later on, it was popularised again by the beloved Donald Trump and lately has been spreading like the ‘potentially’ airborne COVID-19.
The world has been going through massive upheaval in the past few months. From a global health pandemic to cyclones and hurricanes, from feminism to racism, from student rights to animal rights, there is some issue, some topic that is being constantly discussed with a lot of passion, angst, and fury. You probably feel passionate about some topic, there must be something that is close to your heart that you feel is worth fighting for. And yet, people close to you, people you meet over coffee or just some anonymous strangers over social media, would happily bash you and make you feel small about thinking about one issue and not another.
“But what about this and what about that?” that’s the most common argument you will hear from these social bashers.
With whataboutism, we have tried to deflect from issues, we have tried to make a failing argument, tried to get out of sticky situations or have simply used this technique to push our own agendas in the forefront while hijacking someone else’s voice.
Whataboutism, when employed as a response in an argument, or as a troll tactic, takes away the attention from the issue at hand. A lot of experts have been observing a rise in this logically faulty technique in regular discourse. It feels like this is on a rise or something that has existed all along and is only now getting enough attention and has a term for it to be referred to as. Whatever be the case, we all need to monitor our slip into a whataboutism-argument and let people fight for the cause they care for and you do the same. It isn’t all or nothing and it is most definitely not ‘but what about’.
What about what about what about.
We’ve gotten very good at what-abouting. When you deflect criticism by pointing out flaws in your opponent, specifically using the phrase “what about x?” This is an attempt to excuse you from changing your behavior by painting your opponent as a hypocrite.
Dad: Son, you haven’t cleaned your room in two years. Please clean it up.
Son: Why are you always telling me to clean my room? What about YOUR room? Or what about your relation with mom? Shouldn’t YOU be the one cleaning up your life?
Dad: Quit your whataboutism and clean your damn room. I’m tired of seeing that dead rat over there in the corner.
Ad hominem refers to the one — appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect. and two — marked by or being an attack on an opponent’s character rather than by an answer to the contentions made.
Ad hominem attacks can take the form of overtly attacking somebody, or more subtly casting doubt on their character or personal attributes as a way to discredit their argument. The result of an ad hom attack can be to undermine someone’s case without actually having to engage with it.
After Sally presents an eloquent and compelling case for a more equitable taxation system, Sam asks the audience whether we should believe anything from a woman who isn’t married, was once arrested, and smells a bit weird.
Since all our energies tend to focus on those two methods subconsciously to malign activities that we might not see as a solution or a project that we would deem to be not the priority. We will bash it with all the possible effort, to either feel less guilt for not having the courage to actually appreciate or just to sound intellectual for the bystanders/audience.
It seems that we have forgotten how to argue with respect to an existing discourse, a static subject without vomiting all over it with things that are not remotely related. We have also lost our ability to understand how to find solutions to problems that we tend to avoid with our use of the newly established norm — whataboutism.
Next time you get to see someone following a similar path of what about x & ad hominem towards you or someone else— the least you could do is just write these two words (whataboutism — Ad hominem) and let them google it.
