Whataboutism or whataboutery (as in "what about…?") denotes in a pejorative sense a procedure in which a critical question or argument is not answered or discussed, but retorted with a critical counter-question which expresses a counter-accusation. From a logical and argumentative point of view it is considered a variant of the tu-quoque pattern (Latin 'you too', term for a counter-accusation), which is a subtype of the ad-hominem argument. ... The communication intent is often to distract from the content of a topic (red herring). The goal may also be to question the justification for criticism and the legitimacy, integrity, and fairness of the critic, which can take on the character of discrediting the criticism, which may or may not be justified. Common accusations include double standards, and hypocrisy

[–] gmtom@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Yes, people can claim they are calling out hypocrisy to justify actually whattaboutism, but that doesn't automatically mean any claim of hypocrisy = whataboutism.

The key line from your own quote is.

which can take on the character of discrediting the criticism, which may or may not be justified