Sure it is. If I'm arguing that Trump's foreign policy in Syria is dangerous and a Trump supporters responds that Obama had a similar policy in order to support Trump - that's whataboutism. It's illegitimate because we are discussing the substance of the policy.

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No, this is not legitimate. If Poster A starts a thread about Trump's taxes and Poster B responds with something about the Clinton Foundation, thats completely bogus.

Only if they are trying to defend the substance of the argument which would be fiscal relationships. But if the point is simply to point out that Poster A doesn't care about illicit fiscal relationships until the other side has them, then it is a legitimate means of discrediting Poster A. It's doesn't mean the substance is wrong; only that the Poster is selective in his outrage and unprincipled.

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Even if Poster A doesn't have any credibity, that still doesn't change anything regarding Trump's taxes and by taking that road you're no better than the person you claim has no credibility.

I disagree. Pointing out hypocrisy is important because it harms credibility down the line. There is a reason why no sane person acknowledges Huffington Post or Info Wars - it's because they have developed a pattern of discredited reporting. It's the same with individual posters. Even though they may stumble on valid points from time to time, anything they put forth should be taken with a major grain of salt.

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Posted by Draconian Sanctions

Markey's bar

Member since Oct 2008

84929 posts

Posted on 5/29/17 at 2:02 pm to Antonio Moss

quote:
But if the point is simply to point out that Poster A doesn't care about illicit fiscal relationships until the other side has them, then it is a legitimate means of discrediting Poster A. It's doesn't mean the substance is wrong; only that the Poster is selective in his outrage and unprincipled.

That's a logical fallacy, appeal to hypocrisy

It's also often used very unfairly and unevenly, making if even less legitimate

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Pointing out hypocrisy is important because it harms credibility down the line.

The problem is that anybody can say "well you have no credibility" as a means of deflecting, regardless of whether or not it's true

You seem to want to be able to avoid addressing legitimate questions and concerns with impunity when it suits your purposes. If you don't see how that's a problem then I can't help you.

This post was edited on 5/29/17 at 2:04 pm

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