No. A whataboutism is also rhetorical fallacy, that is just a comparison. They’re not arguing that plane crashes don’t matter because Palestine, they are specifically comparing levels of horror and stating that one is less.
Comparing levels of horror, yes, but to be a whataboutism you have to ask the question “why are they comparing it”. They want to bring attention somewhere else. Either away from the fact that they don’t have feelings about it even though other people do, or to bring attention towards something else that they’re passionate about. The latter is what prompts me to label it as whataboutism. Their profile is a mix of tech and politics so there’s precedent for their comment.
Why else would they bother commenting here if not to draw attention to something political? It’s like going to a funeral and saying “I don’t know, sure it’s sad but since I’m aware of the genocide going on, it’s not that sad”.
Part of a whataboutism is discrediting the initial claim. The comment in question explicitly reinforces the initial claim before adding a subjective opinion on which feels more severe.
Its not a whataboutism to say: “Both are bad but x feels worse to me”. That’s simply subjective opinion.
I think you’re a bit too trigger-happy with the label.
Maybe we’re reading different things. I’ll paste their comment below, removing all of the “what about”. All that’s left is discrediting people who feel bad listening to the audio.
Honestly, i felt the audio wasn’t as bad as so many people are claiming it to be. Like yes its bad, but… not that bad. They suffered for like 30 seconds, and then peace.
Then they go on with the “what about the genocide stuff”
No. A whataboutism is also rhetorical fallacy, that is just a comparison. They’re not arguing that plane crashes don’t matter because Palestine, they are specifically comparing levels of horror and stating that one is less.
Comparing levels of horror, yes, but to be a whataboutism you have to ask the question “why are they comparing it”. They want to bring attention somewhere else. Either away from the fact that they don’t have feelings about it even though other people do, or to bring attention towards something else that they’re passionate about. The latter is what prompts me to label it as whataboutism. Their profile is a mix of tech and politics so there’s precedent for their comment.
Why else would they bother commenting here if not to draw attention to something political? It’s like going to a funeral and saying “I don’t know, sure it’s sad but since I’m aware of the genocide going on, it’s not that sad”.
Part of a whataboutism is discrediting the initial claim. The comment in question explicitly reinforces the initial claim before adding a subjective opinion on which feels more severe.
Its not a whataboutism to say: “Both are bad but x feels worse to me”. That’s simply subjective opinion.
I think you’re a bit too trigger-happy with the label.
Maybe we’re reading different things. I’ll paste their comment below, removing all of the “what about”. All that’s left is discrediting people who feel bad listening to the audio.
Then they go on with the “what about the genocide stuff”
It’s not genocide stuff, its a specific event that is harrowing if you care