Word: Whataboutism

[Tom Zurinskas]

That's a good one - whataboutisms!   I had a tenant and when I had to address something they were doing wrong I always got plenty of whataboutisms from them as to things that they wanted addressed.

Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, Tenn 3, NJ 33, now Fl 9.
See how English spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk


 
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Word: Whataboutism
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> A recent article in The Guardian (UK) used the term "whataboutism" and
> pointed to a 2008 article in The Economist for an explanation.
> 
> Newspaper Website: The Guardian
> Date: February 4, 2014
> Article title: Russia's anti-gay law is wrong - but so is some of the
> criticism from the west
> Author: Marc Bennetts
> 
> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/05/russia-anti-gay-law-criticism-playing-into-putin-hands
> 
> 
> Periodical: The Economist
> Date: January 31, 2008
> Article title: Whataboutism
> http://www.economist.com/node/10598774
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> SOVIET propagandists during the cold war were trained in a tactic that
> their western interlocutors nicknamed "whataboutism". Any criticism of
> the Soviet Union (Afghanistan, martial law in Poland, imprisonment of
> dissidents, censorship) was met with a "What about..." (apartheid
> South Africa, jailed trade-unionists, the Contras in Nicaragua, and so
> forth).
> 
> It is not a bad tactic. Every criticism needs to be put in a
> historical and geographical context.
> [End excerpt]
> 
> Wikipedia created an entry for Whataboutism on May 16, 2012. Here is a link:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
> 
> I did not see the word in the ADS-L archives, Wordspy, or Barry
> Popik's website. I haven't tried to look for early occurrences.
> 
> Garson
> 
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