LETTER

LETTRE

‘Whataboutism,’ Is There Such a Thing?

 

If everyone is guilty of something, is no one guilty of anything?
    Morality doesn’t pick sides. It doesn’t care about borders, political ideologies, socio-economic status, religions, genders, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or whether you like pineapple on your pizza. (Have I covered everything we use to divide ourselves?).
    There's good, and there's bad. Bad behaviour is bad behaviour. Yes, it's that simple—it's that black and white. However, these days calling out bad behaviour is fraught with self-righteous deflection.
    Increasingly, the following scenario occurs.
    You'll be having a conversation. Perhaps over coffee, a few drinks, or a meal. Inevitably Russia will come up, or Trudeau, or Biden. Your conversation partner bought into the social pressure that they're a Russian sympathizer if they don't stand by Ukraine as we're being told to do. Finally, you give in to your animal instinct and ask the “elephant in the room" questions. "Obama launched airstrikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. Where was the outrage then?" or "Canada sanctions Russia for invading Ukraine. Why did Canada not sanction the U.S. when it invaded Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, etc.?"
    Yay freethinkers!
Nick Kossovan,
Toronto