Salviati: John tortured a puppy.
Simplicio: So what? Freddy stole a marshmallow.
I suppose you could call this whataboutism, and it is a common debating tactic of people who have no arguments on their side.
I am well aware, as I have affirmed here before, that numerous elected officials were wrongly sanguine about the coronavirus threat for a time, and/or delayed too long in taking mitigating measures. This includes politicians of both parties. Most of them, with the notable exception of 8 Republican governors who are still trying to kill their constituents, came around to the view that the crisis was real, and took strong action, long before the Resident admitted the truth. Unfortunately in the case of New Orleans that was not until the Mardis Gras celebration had happened which was probably a disastrous decision. To what extent Bill de Blasio's insouciant remarks may have made matters worse is less clear. I am not "covering this up," these stories have been extensively covered and everybody knows about them.
Pointing to these unfortunate facts is not somehow a rebuttal to pointing to the disastrous, stupid, narcissistic, mendacious and deranged performance of the single individual with the greatest responsibility to exercise wise and humane leadership in this circumstance. It is largely irrelevant. It is an attempt to deflect and distract.
Once again, and will not repeat this: my intention here is to promote intelligent, informed, constructive discourse. I will not publish posts which are nothing but trolling tactics. And I don't have to write about the subjects you want me to write about. If you want to talk about something else, get your own blog.
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I have encountered this false arguing tactic many times when discussing the disaster of a Trump presidency.
I was working in a hospital for a food service in 2015-16, just before the election. I was lamenting to my supervisor, Ms. Bugg (yes, that is her real last name), what an impending disaster it would be on so many levels--economic, environmental, political, in every way--if Trump were elected. She responded with a comment I've heard others make, regarding Trump vs. Clinton: "It won't make much difference which one gets elected."
She didn't hear what I was saying. And how wrong she was.
Again, say what you want about a candidate you don't like ... but comparing placing a narcissistically disturbed bigot/racist in the presidency vs. a politician you just don't like because you "just don't trust her" (or whatever vague reason given) is faulty.
I'd say that many African-Americans are justified in this perspective, because it's true that, no matter who's in office, with the exception of someone like Obama or LBJ, as a minority, you'll get screwed every which way. But then again, no population is monolithic, and there are no doubt as many members of the African-American community with disparate opinions as with any other population.
The point is, saying, "You think THAT'S bad ... listen to what SO-AND-SO did!" is an argument used when there are no reasons to refute the allegation. Just pull something irrelevant out of the hat and say, "But look HERE!"
In the practice of communication founded by Marshall Rosenberg called NVC, or Nonviolent Communication, this deterring practice is referred to as an "empathy blocker." In this case, the specific blocker used is called "One-upping." Other "empathy blockers" used instead of listening include:
Advising" ("Here's what I think you should do ..." Many men do this instead of listening.
Storytelling ("That reminds me of the time when ..."
Shutting down ("Cheer up. Don't feel so bad.")
Interrogating
Sympathizing
And many more. I would advise anyone interested in learning to become a better listener to pick up a copy of Marshall Rosenberg's "Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life" (2015: PuddleDancer Press) online at https://www.cnvc.org/ or to attend an NVC workshop in an area near you in Canada or the US, or in other countries as well.
We've certainly never lived in a greater time of noise that substitutes for communication. But real communication has no substitute. Perhaps that is one silver lining being revealed by the COVID-19 crisis. People are starting to listen and communicate more--even if it is from greater distances.
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