In this ubiquitous era of the digital world, we are now much more consciously aware of the deep-rooted social issues that disrupt and impact our daily lives than ever. Important harmful societal issues, such as racism, ableism, ageism, sexism, classism, etc., are all constantly on the public mind. 

Due to our heightened consciousness about everything around us, we naturally feel the need to speak up against wrongs, be the voice for the voiceless and ensure we are creating inclusive spaces for everyone. Yet sometimes such propensities get out of hand and lead to us making a fool out of ourselves. 

The freedom and accessibility we have to tune in and respond to what everyone has to say has become limitless with how advanced social media is. It has become an avenue for influencing others, sharing opinions, engaging in debates and now the rampant use of a rhetorical tactic as daft as ad hominem: “whataboutism.”

“Whataboutism” is the act of responding to an argument by accusing the other of hypocrisy and asking them, “Well, what about this and that?” without actually disputing their argument. The problem with “whataboutism” is that it fails to acknowledge the actual issue. It prevents us from engaging in meaningful dialogue and arriving at an effective evaluation of the issue because we feel we are personally being attacked when, in actuality, it has nothing to do with us. 

I remember watching a TikTok video of a content creator sharing their recipe for bean soup. Some people quickly commented, “But what about the people allergic to beans? What about the people who don’t like beans? Or the people who cannot eat beans because it is harmful to their health?” 

Okay, so what about them? The producer did not say anything about forcing all his viewers to eat beans, nor made fun of people who cannot eat beans for health or personal reasons. Yet somehow, some people still felt offended and discriminated against his view that had nothing to do with how bean-allergic, bean-hater or the other “what-about” comparisons people have mentioned to criticize him. 

There are indeed a lot of situations where people love to interject their bigoted and ignorant opinions unto others. In these cases, it certainly makes sense to challenge these views and counter them in a rational way. But with the widespread use of “whataboutism,” people cannot talk about something without prefacing it with a hundred disclaimers because people could see everything as an attack on their personal beliefs and accuse us of being bigoted and ignorant of the implications of our statements. A lot of netizens have become indulgent in bringing up false equivalents of an argument and even the most irrelevant points just for the sake of disagreeing and countering what the other said. 

Notably, Zionists continue to use “whataboutisms” as a smear tactic to discredit and invalidate criticisms against Israel and the genocide in Palestine. Whenever people speak up against the IDF’s crimes against humanity, many netizens would comment, “But what about Hamas? But do you condemn Hamas?” By deflecting the real issue at hand, they are justifying Israel’s crimes and reinforcing the consent for Israel to do whatever it wants because “Israel has the right to defend itself.”

When I felt consumed by my disappointment with the Philippines’ previous government’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, I tweeted about the failures of the Duterte administration to effectively tackle COVID-19 in our country. A few hours later, I was bombarded by spiteful comments from Duterte supporters, who accused me of ignoring the “help” that the administration offered to the victims of super typhoon Yolanda. They have used “whataboutism” to deflect legitimate concerns about the administration’s competence and highlight positive actions to mask its failures. 

Just because someone is raising a point about or speaks up about something they like or dislike does not necessarily mean they’re enforcing their views on you and asking you to abide by their desires or detest what they abhor. The issue is that “whataboutisms” are an unproductive and foolish way to engage with others and prevent us from focusing on the real issues we should be addressing.