Artist's Description |
Graeme Shimmin - What's the most ridiculous use of 'whataboutism' that you've ever seen?
Muhammad Rasheed - I don’t know about the ‘most’ ridiculous usage, since I’m hardly omniscient, but the one currently hot in the national conversation that really angers me is the ‘whataboutism’ performed by the defenders of R. Kelly.
They annoyingly group R. Kelly’s case with the demonstrably false allegations against both Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby—treating the three of them grouped together as if their guilt is matter-of-fact truth—while pitting them against white men who have been accused of sexual crimes like Woody Allen and Harvey Weinstein. Not interested in the cases themselves, as their lack of critical thinking shows, they just want the Black men to be left alone since they fully expect the white men accused to continue to do as they like without serious punishment.
It’s clear to me that this particular ‘whataboutism’ is more than just intellectual ‘devil’s advocate’ drills, but very well may be the self-conscious squirming and emotional reaction of someone with something to hide themselves. Better watch it.
________________________________
MEDIUM: Scanned pen & ink cartoon drawing w/Adobe Photoshop color.
No comments:
Post a Comment