Opinion | The Donald Trump presidency is ending, can we wave goodbye to whataboutisms, too?
- Whataboutisms emerged from Soviet-era Russia as a way of deflecting criticism by making a counteraccusation
- Questioning any sinister aspect of life in Asia has been impossible since Donald Trump took office
At last. After four torturous years, a malign, brooding, and frankly ludicrous presence is finally about to be expunged from our lives.
From the moment he swaggered into the White House, it’s been impossible to question any dark or sinister aspect of life in Asia without being met with a whataboutism.
Human rights abuses: what about the separation of children from their parents on the Mexican border? The rise of militant nationalism: what about Charlottesville? Racism: what about George Floyd? Corruption: what about the Russia inquiry and Trump’s tax bill?
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From coffee shops to legislative chambers, from Shanghai to Hong Kong, and from Manila to Jakarta, whataboutisms have flourished menacingly, poisoning the well of political discourse and raising the bar of false equivalence to such a dizzying height that even the nimblest debater cannot hope to overcome them.
It isn’t just debate they are designed to subdue and suppress, of course. Whataboutisms have provided a smokescreen for an alarming erosion of personal freedoms. Is there any country or territory in the region that is demonstrably fairer or freer than it was four years ago?
