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Comment by krapp | Hacker News Reader

I wonder... were one to check every story about this posted to HN, what percentage would contain a comment claiming that Obama did the same or worse?

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But he did though...and there was no scandal then. Why now?

Go read the responses in the other threads. Not that it's actually going to matter.

Whataboutism isn't a defense. Folks can legitimately be outraged and push for change based on CA. Reflection on past or ongoing abuses should absolutely happen.

It’s not whataboutism in the sense that both campaigns have done things that I would like to see outlawed.

I was merely pointing out a peculiar selectivity in reporting and outrage.

That's definitional whataboutism.

The definition of whataboutism is excusing someone’s actions because someone else has done the same. What I’m pointing out here is the opposite.

Whataboutism isn’t excusing; it’s deflecting. To quote from the OED: “The technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counter-accusation or raising a different issue”

This is exactly what you’ve done.

While whataboutism is definitey toxic to conversation, I've noticed a lot people tend to throw accusations of whataboutism around when they are uncomfortable with their hypocrisy being pointed out.

This is also highly damaging to discourse.

Judging from Twitter the odds are 100%.

Trolls are everywhere, nowadays. Time for identity to reign for a while.

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