Defenders of American imperialism cleverly use the slur “whataboutism” in order to denigrate anyone who points out that the United States doesn’t have the moral standing to criticize other countries in matters of war and peace.
What About Whataboutism
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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Whatabout people trying to conceal their hypocrisy under the guise of whataboutism?
How stupid does one have to be to believe that hiding behind a stupid neologism makes their stupidity invisible?
Conservatives love to accuse everyone else of not taking responsibility for their actions. After arming, training and funding the most radical elements in a society and getting “blowback” like 9/11 or a nation full of neo-Nazis like Ukraine, conservatives hate taking responsibility.
I would say that both conservative and “liberals” hate taking responsibility. I put liberals in quotes because most of the liberals I encounter are only liberal about what they themselves deserve. “A raise? Of course, I deserve one. But not the other guy. Just like my precious darling babies deserve the finest preschool I can find, whereas these other people really ought to learn to budget more effectively or maybe get sterilized.” There are many examples of the phenomenon. For instance, the New York Post got it right about Hunter Biden’s laptop. Both the Bezos Booster and the New York Times grudgingly and obliquely admitted it. Now, it’s getting more and more obvious that there’s something to the claim that Hunter Biden’s financial activities as revealed by that laptop are linked to Joe Biden, despite Biden’s insistence that this isn’t the case. Does anyone, honestly, think Biden (Joe and Hunter) isn’t in it up to his eyeballs?
Though I think it’s a somewhat apt comparison, some people are gonna get seriously triggered by comparing Biden/the US to Hitler. To me, Biden’s more like von Hindenburg. (the geriatric President of Germany who appointed Hitler as Chancellor) Instead of “concentration camps,” the US has helped create Gaza, Iraq, Libya, Yemen…..why go to all the trouble of rounding ’em up when you can just make them miserable and short-lived where they are?
WA-ism: a new, snarky, rhetorical quip added to the extensive, and insidiously effective, auto-suppressing propaganda arsenal of the Empire of Obscurantism and Fundamentalist Jingoism.
It’s an easy way to stop a conversation its user is terrified to have on a topic you are obviously a traitor to consider. As a 3-syllable variant of “you are either with us or against us … in the glorious and everlating vigilance and fight against OTHER countries’ totalitarian thought control,” it reaffirms the US’s exceptionally cosmic hypocrisy … which reaffirmation seems to be a burgeoning national sport.
A person who employs WA-ism is terrified that your next request will be: “point-out Ukraine on this map.” (For real fun, use a map on which Ukraine is absent!)
Fagedditaboutit.