Whataboutisms

At first I wanted to say that I don't know what all of the finger pointing going on lately is about, but that's not true. I know exactly why "whataboutisms" seem to be everywhere these days and that's because a lot of people have found themselves in the position of needing to defend the indefensible, which is a situation where whataboutisms are the only option. When you're being accused of something horrendous, when someone says that you're supporting something unforgivable, or when you have no other way to justify yourself, your only recourse is to point the finger in another direction in an attempt to switch the focus of the outrage. There's a lot of indefensible things going on in the world right now, and there are a lot of people who are either actively supporting them, or attempting to justify their indifference and inaction, so it's only natural that whataboutisms are rampant. Their prevalence in the current political landscape can't be denied as our president and his flock are experts in the realms of finger pointing. Trump uses whataboutisms constantly because, obviously, he does many horrible things. The most depressing thing about that is that it's extremely effective and his supporters eat it up. He's not the only one to peddle in finger pointing though and it's not just a phenomenon in the US. Vladimir Putin is famous for whataboutisms and the United States is his favorite direction to deflect criticism. Whenever someone points out all of the corruption and even outright maliciousness in Putins government, he loves to simply deflect that towards America. He basically says that we're no better than Russia is. That highlights a very somber thing about whataboutisms and that they very much further the idea that, putting it bluntly, the world is just shit. "Hey I may be bad, but that guy over there is horrible too so it's ok" is whataboutism in a nutshell. It's downright toxic if you ask me, because it's lowering the bar for everyone. The bar just seems to be getting lower and lower and I'm honestly not sure what to do about it. How can we raise the rhetoric? How can we change the discourse away from finger pointing? How do we stop all of this stupid finger pointing? Unfortunately, the only answer I have is for every sane minded individual to do everything they can to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. If something you are supporting turns out to be wrong, drop that shit like a hot brick. If you come to understand that you're in the wrong, don't double down, change direction. That may be asking a lot of some, but for others, it's something they just do naturally so I'm going to continue to have that as the standard I choose. Also, we need to stop saying we're sorry all the time, but specifically in the context of using an apology in place of substantial change. In that context, my philosophy is "don't be sorry, be better". Alright, I got a little off course there, so let's bring it back to whataboutisms. One thing I like about whataboutisms however, is that they're basically an admission of guilt. When you use a whataboutism, you're actually acknowledging that you're in the wrong and because of that it's an instant indicator that you're problematic. However, their usefulness in terms of signifying who is terrible is about all that they're good for. Many snakes have bright coloring and this is an evolutionary trait designed to let all the surrounding animals know that they're venomous. Someone using a whataboutism is very similar in my eyes. Still, a snake letting you know that it's got a nasty bite doesn't change the fact that it's still there and there are a lot of snakes in the world today. For a while I had a hard time understanding why so many people stand by certain things that are clearly terrible, but now I know why. It's because they're in too deep. Or at least, that's what they believe. They don't see changing their direction as viable because it would mean an admission of fault. I would say that I don't blame them for that sentiment, if it weren't for the fact that many individuals have had the moral fortitude to do that. Pride can be very problematic and in many circles there is a deadly amount of it floating around, those circles are often rife with whataboutisms. Ultimately, if the only way you can defend something is by pointing a finger elsewhere, maybe you should consider whether you should be defending it in the first place.