Slouching Towards Oblivion

Monday, July 17, 2017

Something To Watch For


I've posted some links to Logical Fallacies, hoping to keep myself up with debate tactics that're less than honest - so I can avoid using them, but to remind myself to look out for them being used against me so I can counter them.

Here's the big one that Cult45 trots out almost every time:


And then this popped up for me on Wikipedia today:

What-About-ism

Usage by Donald Trump[edit]

U.S. President Donald Trump has been accused of employing whataboutism in response to criticism leveled at him, his policies, or his support of controversial world leaders.[80][81][82] During the 2016 presidential election, Trump was accused of using the technique to defend his support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been accused of human rights violations. When The New York Times asked about Erdoğan's treatment of journalists, teachers, and dissidents, Trump replied, "When the world looks at how bad the United States is, and then we go and talk about civil liberties, I don't think we're a very good messenger."[83]
When criticized or asked to defend his behavior, Trump has frequently changed the subject by criticizing Hillary Clinton, the Obama Administration,[81] and the Affordable Care Act.[1] When asked about Russian human rights violations, Trump has shifted focus to the U.S. itself,[80][20] employing whataboutism tactics similar to those used by Russian President Vladimir Putin.[19][82]
After Fox News host Bill O'Reilly and MSNBC host Joe Scarborough called Putin a killer, Trump responded by saying that the U.S. government was also guilty of killing people.[20][84][85] U.S. Senator Marco Rubio also criticized Trump for his use of the technique.[86] Gary Kasparov commented to Columbia Journalism Review on Trump's use of whataboutism: "Moral relativism, 'whataboutism,' has always been a favorite weapon of illiberal regimes. For a US president to employ it against his own country is tragic. Trump repeating Putin’s words—and nearly Stalin’s—by calling the press the enemy of the people, has repercussions around the world."[36] In addition to Trump, other Republicans, including Dana Rohrabacher, have utilized whataboutism in response to criticism of Russia.[87]

I followed a link from the citations on the Wikipedia page and found these on YouTube (part 2 has the What-About-ism thing):




And oh yeah - here's Olbermann from Oct 2016:


Pleasant dreams, kids.


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