3 ms·
I have addressed whataboutism here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30510093 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30510093 I can add a little bit more. Wh
by ComradePhil 4y ago
I have addressed whataboutism here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30510093 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30510093
I can add a little bit more. When you are bringing up a value you think the other side has violated and when someone points out that you don't care about those values at all because the side you are defending does the exact same thing, boomers have been trained to pretentiously scream "whataboutism" and act as if that somehow makes their argument stronger. Boomer media just made that the last word and made it seem like it was a valid argument. It's not. It's like someone presenting a video evidence of your crime and you suing them for filming you without consent.
> Russia initiated the conflict without provocation
I saw plenty of provocation. I guess you are limited by your top-down media which filters out anything that doesn't align with their goals... so I understand why you would think that... but I'm inviting you to take a wider perspective and see it from the Russian side. If you think Russian action on Ukraine was unprovoked, do you also think the US acted disproportionately when the "Cuban missile crisis"? Or are you a hypocrite?
> there are a thousand similar reports from the last month.
Ukraine, NATO and the US have incentive to fabricate those reports... and Russia has reasons to deny them. The US has been caught hiding human rights abuses done by themselves and their allies while amplifying or even fabricating that of the enemy in the past. There's little reason to believe that they aren't doing it now.
Wars are messy and strategic advantage is paramount... and oftentimes, elements in them do things they think they can get away with... and these things are never fairly reported by either side. Amplification of wrongdoings of others and supperessing that of your own side is expected part of it. I expect both sides to do it for obvious reasons.