whataboutery

noun

what·​about·​ery ˌ(h)wä-tə-ˈbau̇-tə-rē 

ˌ(h)wə-

plural whatabouteries

chiefly British

: whataboutism

… blame can be accepted without some finger-pointing immediately following it but, especially online, whataboutery still abounds.

—Liam Bryce

"Whataboutery" is deployed by people who are themselves accused of a charge, and who wish to distract rather than defend themselves—it is a misdirection technique of the guilty.

—Kate Maltby

… there was always the lurking suspicion that the promised new approach could not be sustained and that old whatabouteries would inevitably surface …

—Belfast Telegraph Online

Examples of whataboutery in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For Republicans to make this case is not another tedious and empty example in political whataboutery—the endless process of excusing your own faults by pointing to those of others. —Gerard Baker, WSJ, 7 Nov. 2022

America's 2003 invasion of Iraq and the disaster that followed was a gift Putin used to turn any debate into another round of exhausting whataboutery, which in turn made Putin a hero for the European far-left. —Natalia Antelava, CNN, 1 Mar. 2022

The synonymous term whataboutery is more common in British English. —Gabriela Miranda, USA TODAY, 28 Oct. 2021

For those steeped in such diplomatic talks, Putin’s whataboutery was entirely predictable. —Philip Elliott, Time, 17 June 2021

This is where a flimsy exercise in whataboutery as a defence against structural sexism and misogyny comes into play: the hashtag #notallmen. —Vicky Spratt, refinery29.com, 23 Apr. 2021

Word History

Etymology

what about [X]? + -ery

First Known Use

1974, in the meaning defined above