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Not going to dispute the facts of this comment, but to me this sounds like whataboutism, wherein the commenter tries to neutralize criticism by creating an equi
by abvdasker 8y ago
Not going to dispute the facts of this comment, but to me this sounds like whataboutism, wherein the commenter tries to neutralize criticism by creating an equivalency with other entities which might be worthy of the same criticism. It's a rhetorical strategy that seems to come up a lot on the internet, especially when the CCP is the subject.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
- majia 8y agoThis seems a straw man argument. Whataboutism is not necessarily to neutralize critism. It is to show that sometimes China or a particular entity is held to a unreasonably high standard. How high the standard for GDP calculation is for debate, but we should not dismiss an argument by labeling it as whataboutism.
- resters 8y agoExactly. My point in making the initial comment was not to defend China, but simply to attempt to prevent the knee-jerk "America has great institutions" jingoism that is such a common reaction to stories about corruption in foreign governments. But as can be seen from my comment being brutally down voted, the force of jingoism is very strong.