Whataboutery

Lately it seems like some people are all about whataboutism.

As just one high profile example, when the President of the United States is challenged on wrongdoing in his administration, his immediate response is to bring up the Clintons. Mention “alleged” sexual predatory behavior on his part (or fellow Republicans) and the knee jerk reaction is to shift the attention to the misdeeds of members of the opposition party. And so on.

If there were a Nobel Prize for chutzpah there’s little doubt who’d win.

Of course, The Donald is hardly alone. The parade of statements that start with some variation of “yeah, but what about?” often appears unending. And in the spirit of full disclosure, I will admit that I’ve engaged in some Ph.D. level deflection myself. You can definitely find at least one person who can give give you chapter and verse on my ninja-like avoidance skills.

It turns out it’s hard for many of us to own our stuff.

But, deep down, anyone with the emotional IQ a notch above a salamander knows that just because someone else might have engaged in similar bad behavior does not make our misdeeds okay. At all. Not one little bit.

While we may feel good about our self-righteous quest to point out the hypocrisy of others (thank you for your service!) what we are doing is merely taking the focus away from that for which we are ultimately responsible.

What about focusing on our own stuff for just a bit?

What about letting the Universe sort out the rest?

Originally published at stevenpdennis.com on November 27, 2017.