Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh definitely, it's more annoying than anything. I can sympathize with genuine causes but cheap potshots like whataboutism is just such a cynical means.
Pointing out hypocrisy is not "whataboutism" it's just simply pointing out hypocrisy. This "whataboutism" was invented as a way to avoid uncomfortable comparisons, you can find a lot of stories in the west where if you replace Countryname with Russia and the story would sound plausible, here you go: "Russian whistleblower who uncovered that the Russian government spied on all of its people has fled to the US to avoid…
And further more, there's nothing stopping you or anyone else from opening a thread here and now where we can discuss the topic of unfair arrests.
>This "whataboutism" was invented as a way to avoid uncomfortable comparisons
If I invented the term "whatboutism" I would've been proud how certain people over-dramatize it's invention.
Whataboutism is just a more proper word for the logical fallacy "Tu quoque" or appeal to hypocrisy, which is used to divert attention away from the original specific topic and instead try and force the topic to either be as broad and inconsequential as possible or to make us focus on this 'hypocrite' to avert attention away from the original specific topic.
>you can find a lot of stories in the west where if you replace Countryname with Russia and the story would sound plausible
The assertion that replacing one country's name with another creates a "plausible" story is just overly reductive.
It says nothing about the context nor the specific situations at hand, you're effectively flipping the concern at hand.
Where the origin of the story is more important than the actual evidence at hand.