Whataboutism

What it is

Responds to an accusation or question by raising a different, usually unrelated, wrong done by someone else ("what about...?"). It shifts the subject instead of answering and is a common form of tu quoque or red herring.

Related

• False equivalence fallacy
  Whataboutism usually implies the two wrongs are equivalent, which is rarely checked.
• Red herring fallacy
  Whataboutism is a red herring in a specific shape: a different wrong offered to change the subject.
• Tu quoque fallacy
  Whataboutism is tu quoque stretched to any other wrong, answering a criticism by raising someone else's faults.

References

• Wikipedia: Whataboutism en.wikipedia.org
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Fallacies iep.utm.edu
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Fallacies plato.stanford.edu
• Wikipedia: List of fallacies en.wikipedia.org
• Purdue OWL: Logical fallacies owl.purdue.edu

More in “Dodging or distorting the argument”