{"id":6266,"date":"2025-02-12T08:42:16","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T06:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/?p=6266"},"modified":"2025-02-12T08:42:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T06:42:16","slug":"the-kremlin-and-the-art-of-pointing-fingers-national-whataboutism-as-russias-state-ideology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/the-kremlin-and-the-art-of-pointing-fingers-national-whataboutism-as-russias-state-ideology\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kremlin and the art of pointing fingers: national whataboutism as Russia\u2019s state ideology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>\u201cWhataboutism\u201d is a rhetorical device to deflect attention to an unpleasant issue. The Oxford English Dictionary\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lexico.com\/definition\/whataboutism\">defines it as<\/a>: <em>The technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counter-accusation or raising a different issue.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/euromaidanpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/deflect.png?resize=960%2C540\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The method is very popular in the pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystem<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>\u201cRussian military shot down a passenger plane? Well, what about all the aircraft the US has shot down?\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u201cEastern Ukraine? Well, what about all the countries in whose affairs the US has interfered?\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u201cDemonstrators detained in Russia? Well, what about the police violence in Europe and the gilets jaunes? What about the persecution of the participants in the peaceful protests in Washington, January 6<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Classical rhetoric describes this technique as a version of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tu_quoque\">tu quoque fallacy <\/a>. In Russian \u201c<em>\u0441\u0430\u043c<\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>\u0434\u0443\u0440\u0430\u043a<\/em>\u201d \u2013 \u201cyou too are an idiot!\u201d This approach has deep roots in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/And_you_are_lynching_Negroes\">Soviet rhetorical traditions<\/a>, and the Kremlin disinformation ecosystem retorts to the method frequently. EUvsDisinfo has described the method in several articles \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/euromaidanpress.com\/2019\/11\/08\/pro-kremlin-disinformation-machinery-this-week-whataboutism-at-its-best\/\">here<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/euvsdisinfo.eu\/the-burrito-theft-theory\">here<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/euromaidanpress.com\/2019\/06\/26\/chornobyl-disaster-power-of-story-telling-in-chernobyl-miniseries-russian-propaganda\/\">here<\/a>, for instance.<\/p>\n<p>Read more: <a href=\"http:\/\/euromaidanpress.com\/2021\/02\/11\/the-kremlin-and-the-art-of-pointing-fingers-national-whataboutism-as-russias-state-ideology\/?fbclid=IwAR1luEczkkCu5G1DH3otP0CZIbVxXKg_QfpdiKJNrRmCa4kyEae2G-ksQaQ\">http:\/\/euromaidanpress.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWhataboutism\u201d is a rhetorical device to deflect attention to an unpleasant issue. The Oxford English Dictionary\u00a0defines it as: The technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counter-accusation or raising a different issue. The method is very popular in the pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystem \u201cRussian military shot down a passenger<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":6344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1135],"tags":[7381,7382,7383],"class_list":{"0":"post-6266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-foreign-affairs-en","8":"tag-desinformation","9":"tag-kremlin-en","10":"tag-whataboutism"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Kremlin and the art of pointing fingers: national whataboutism as Russia\u2019s state ideology - DISINFO.MD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/disinfo.md\/en\/the-kremlin-and-the-art-of-pointing-fingers-national-whataboutism-as-russias-state-ideology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Kremlin and the art of pointing fingers: national whataboutism as Russia\u2019s state ideology - DISINFO.MD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cWhataboutism\u201d is a rhetorical device to deflect attention to an unpleasant issue. 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