There’s a bit of wisdom in that old saying that…
two wrongs don’t make a right…
However, these days, in the current political climate, it’s become nothing more than a cliche that no one really pays much attention to.
I’m going to try not to take sides in this post, because both sides are guilty as sin, when it comes to whataboutism.
It has become the method of choice used to explain away even the most corrupt and contemptible behavior by politicians, especially the one who looms large over our lives…
Yes, I’m talking about Donald J. Trump.
My feeds are full of examples.
Let’s apply this way of rationalizing away evil to our personal lives. Let’s apply it to the realm of parenthood…
What would you do if your kid was caught in the act of some dastardly deed, like lying through his teeth about something important…and he says…
But (brother) Billy did it too (or did x, which certainly is just as bad, or worse)…shouldn’t that let me off the hook?
I don’t know about you, but that excuse wouldn’t fly very far with me.
Nevertheless, when it comes to the leader of the free world, it flies…boy oh boy does it ever fly…
His beloved base seems capable of forgiving anything on the grounds that the Clintons, or the Bidens, or the Obamas surely did much worse…
What if we let our kids get by based on the whataboutism defense? What might be the ramifications going forward?
Would that dissuade the next lie?
Would that be a good way to teach our kids right from wrong?
When it comes to Trump…do you think letting him off the hook, because some democrat at some point in the past did x, do you really think that will dissuade the next lie, or the next attempt to rig the election in his favor, or the next meddling into our supposedly impartial criminal justice system, to make it work in his favor and against his enemies?
Do you really think so?
I don’t.
It makes me cringe a little each time I see these examples of whataboutism. And lately there’s no shortage of them.
I also worry about what this form of thinking is doing to the country at large. We seem ready, willing and able these days to look the other way at just about anything our side does, as long as we can point to something we feel is equally as bad on the other side…
And this just perpetuates a cycle of corruption that is spiraling out of control…
And even threatening our democratic freedoms.
I realize that in this age of polarization, politics is viewed as something of a team sport. But the truth is that it’s more, much more…
It’s what protects our freedoms and to a large extent governs our daily lives. In short, whether you’re engaged in politics, or not, it is certainly engaged in you!
Whataboutism often defies logic. It calls for trials without witnesses or documentary evidence. It sees everything “we” do as right and everything “they” do as wrong, regardless of clear logical inconsistencies.
It is sewing deeper divisions in an already deeply divided society.
I am sure back in the days before the civil war, chattel slavery was often rationalized with whataboutism…
What about those corrupt Yankee aristocrats, looking down their noses at our way of life, while they exploit the northern working class? Are they really any better?
However, it’s simply not a question of “are they any better?” No, they aren’t and neither are we…
Wrong is wrong.
Regardless of whether you can find what in your opinion are immoral equivalents.
So, how’s about we go about getting rid of whataboutism, once and for all?
What about that?