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Re:Zuckerberg Has No Way Out of Facebook's Quagmire by bduerst on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @07:47PM (#16643625)
Yep, it's also a known tactic for deflection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
Re:Zuckerberg Has No Way Out of Facebook's Quagmire by jayess on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @07:53PM (#16643676)
...by using the latest, greatest new term to shut down debate and avoid addressing the concept of being intellectually honest.
Re:Zuckerberg Has No Way Out of Facebook's Quagmire by bduerst on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @08:45PM (#16644265)
Whataboutism isn't new, nor is it intellectually dishonest to point out when it's being used. Soviets started using it during the cold war era, and it's still in use as a deflection tactic today.
Re:Zuckerberg Has No Way Out of Facebook's Quagmire by eric_h on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @09:12PM (#16644511)
> Whataboutism isn't new

You are absolutely correct, however I would argue that it has only relatively recently entered the common HN lexicon. The vast majority (~675 out of 704^) of comments using it here in the comments are < 2 yrs old.

Admittedly the first comment on HN that used the term is 7 years old, but that comment [0] predates the creation of the wikipedia article (frequently trotted out when invoking the term here) by about a year.

As an aside, I'd love see a dataviz app that shows the lifecycle of terminology and memes that thrive in various internet discussion boards.

0) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2944345

^well it'll be 705 including this post ;)

Re:Zuckerberg Has No Way Out of Facebook's Quagmire by bduerst on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @09:35PM (#16644687)
Interesting timeframe on increased usage on HN. That may be correlated with the current president of the United States using it frequently: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism#Use_by_Donald_T...

Again, that still doesn't make it new or intellectually dishonest to point out.

Re:Zuckerberg Has No Way Out of Facebook's Quagmire by SmirkingRevenge on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @09:52PM (#16644811)
Its also become a bit of a convenient shield for many to avoid confronting/admitting their own side's double-standards or bad-faith power politicking.

Not accusing you of the above, but "Whataboutism" is as old as double-standards it draws attention to. But IMHO the accusation is more often use for ill than for good.

Re:Zuckerberg Has No Way Out of Facebook's Quagmire by bduerst on Thursday March 22, 2018 @11:17PM (#16654817)
It's a false dichotomy to assume that everyone has a "side", and pushing that is part of the deflection.