Whataboutism

Whataboutism (also known as Whataboutery especially in the UK) is a deflection or red herring version of the classic tu quoque logical fallacy — sometimes implementing the balance fallacy as well — which is employed as a propaganda technique. It is used as a diversionary tactic to shift the focus off of an issue and avoid having to directly address it. This technique works by twisting criticism back onto the critic and in doing so revealing the original critic's hypocrisy. The usual syntax is "What about...?" followed by an issue on the opponent's side which is vaguely, if at all, related to the original issue. An old favorite of the Soviet Union,[2] and Marxists/the extreme left in general, the strategy was originally used in the form of "And at your place, they hang black people."[3] In recent years, whataboutism made a comeback in Vladimir Putin's Russia (since the Russians seemingly learned all the wrong lessons from the Cold War), and has also seen a rise in usage by Donald Trump, his support base, and the rest of the far-right.[4]

Simply put, whataboutism refers to the bringing up of one issue in order to distract from the discussion of another. It does not apply to the comparison and analysis of two similar issues in terms such as why some are given more social prominence than others. Whataboutism can be found in many walks of life, not just the political arena, but among religious apologists, and even within rival factions of sports fandom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Category:Whataboutism

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Balance_fallacy

Several commentators have also noted that whataboutism accusations themselves can be used as method of deflection in debates.[27] Professor of journalism Christian Christensen argued that whataboutism accusations can enable double standards by dismissing criticisms of one's own behavior by focusing on those of others, while whataboutism itself can be useful in pointing out double standards and contradictions present in society.[28] Christensen cited the example Noam Chomsky being accused of whataboutism when Chomsky pointed out the double standards in Western leaders' condemnation of the Charlie Hebdo attacks by Islamic extremists, and their eulogies for Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, in spite of their shared views in Islamic fundamentalism and disregard for human rights. In such cases, state violence and human rights violations by "them", i.e. opponents of the Western world, are often framed as innate and systemic, while similar violence by "us" i.e. the Western world and its allies, are framed as necessary evils to defend the democratic system.

The general rule of thumb is that it's OK to point out hypocrisy if there actually are double standards being applied rather than just a diversion tactic, though the demarcation is not well defined. For instance, if Alice steals a lawnmower from Bob, and Bob takes Alice to court, Alice would not be in the right for pointing out that Charlie stole Denise's car without repercussion, because stealing a lawnmower is still a crime even if a lesser crime than car theft, nor is the law being applied unfairly when it comes to Alice. But if Bob had stolen Alice's snow-blower a few months prior without any repercussions, Alice would indeed have a legitimate grievance as the law is clearly only being applied in one direction. The question arises whether that grievance remains legitimate if it was Charlie instead of Bob who stole the snow-blower from Alice; one crime is being pursued over another to Alice's disfavor, but Bob is not being treated unfairly by the law in this case.