Rights advocates call on the Trump administration to ensure accountability for the killing of Sayfollah Musallet.

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have beaten to death a United States citizen in his early 20s, the victim’s family members and rights groups have said.

“We are aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in the West Bank,” Reuters reported a State Department spokesperson as saying. The official declined to comment further “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the reported victim.

  • davel@lemmy.mlEnglish
    9·
    7時間前

    Whataboutism is itself a thought-terminating cliché.

    Citations Needed podcast: Whataboutism - The Media’s Favorite Rhetorical Shield Against Criticism of US Policy

    Since the beginning of what’s generally called ‘RussiaGate’ three years ago, pundits, media outlets, even comedians have all become insta-experts on supposed Russian propaganda techniques. The most cunning of these tricks, we are told, is that of “whataboutism” – a devious Soviet tactic of deflecting criticism by pointing out the accusers’ hypocrisy and inconsistencies. The tu quoque - or, “you, also” - fallacy, but with a unique Slavic flavor of nihilism, used by Trump and leftists alike in an effort to change the subject and focus on the faults of the United States rather than the crimes of Official State Enemies.

    But what if “whataboutism” isn’t describing a propaganda technique, but in fact is one itself: a zombie phrase that’s seeped into everyday liberal discourse that – while perhaps useful in the abstract - has manifestly turned any appeal to moral consistency into a cunning Russian psyop. From its origins in the Cold War as a means of deflecting and apologizing for Jim Crow to its braindead contemporary usage as a way of not engaging any criticism of the United States as the supposed arbiter of human rights, the term “whataboutism” has become a term that - 100 percent of the time - is simply used to defend and legitimizing American empire’s moral narratives.

    • NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml
      2·
      7時間前

      That’s an interesting excerpt. I always thought the proper response to an identified whatabout is to simply say “I asked you first.” -That’s assuming the opposite party refused to respond to the initial premise, argument, or question. I imagine if they did respond to the initial premise, argument, or question then asking whatabout… is just a standard form of discussion and debate, or so I’d think.

      • BrainInABox@lemmy.mlEnglish
        4·
        3時間前

        Basically a straight up admition that they’re both meaningless though terminating cliches