Whataboutism- a propaganda technique

Whataboutism is a propaganda technique formerly used by the Soviet Union in its dealings with the Western world, and subsequently used as a form of propaganda in post-Soviet Russia.¹²³ When criticisms were leveled at the Soviet Union, the Soviet response would be “What about…” followed by an event in the Western world.⁵⁶⁷ It is a variant of tu quoque (appeal to hypocrisy), a logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent’s position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument.⁸⁹¹⁰

During the Cold War, Western officials dubbed the Soviet propaganda strategy “whataboutism”.⁵¹¹ The tactic saw a resurgence in post-Soviet Russia, relating to human rights violations committed by, and criticisms of, the Russian government.⁵¹²¹³ The technique received new attention during Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and military intervention in Ukraine.¹⁴¹⁵ Usage of the tactic extended to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸ National Public Radio, USA Today, and Foreign Policy have noted similarities between the tactic’s usage by the Soviet Union and Donald Trump.¹¹⁹²⁰

The Guardian deemed whataboutism, as used in Russia, “practically a national ideology”.²¹ Journalist Julia Ioffe wrote that “Anyone who has ever studied the Soviet Union” was aware of the technique, citing the Soviet rejoinder to criticism, And you are lynching Negroes, as a “classic” example of the tactic.²² Writing for Bloomberg News, Leonid Bershidsky called whataboutism a “Russian tradition”,²³ while The New Yorker described the technique as “a strategy of false moral equivalences”.²⁴ Jill Dougherty called whataboutism a “sacred Russian tactic”,²⁵²⁶ and compared it to The pot calling the kettle black.

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