#14 「1日1語」<whataboutism>（お前だって論法）

Fielding questions from Russian and U.S. media, Putin deployed one of Moscow’s most reliable and vexing tactics from the Twentieth Century in blunting criticism from Washington: Whataboutism.

("Moscow's Long History of Turning the Table on Washington When It Comes to Human Rights; TIME  June 17, 2021)

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先日の米ロ首脳会談の後の記者会見は共同ではなく、それぞれが単独で行ったとのことだが、プーチン大統領は人権問題に関する記者の質問に対しては"whataboutism" (お前だって論法)を持ち出して応じたという。「それを言うならアメリカのあれやこれやはどうなんだ」と逆襲する戦法だ。プーチン大統領の発言は次のようだったらしい。

　*whataboutism : what+about+ (you)+ ism, "whataboutery"とも言う。

When asked about the political violence in his own country, Putin dismissed it as unremarkable. “What is happening in our country is also taking place in many other countries,” he said. “People … are killed in American cities every day. You can barely say a word there before you are shot in the face or in the back, regardless of who is nearby, children or other adults,” Putin said, according to the official Russian translation.

この論法は論理ではなく感情に訴えるもので、論理学の初歩として教えられるらしい。

There’s actually a Latin term that students learn in their freshman logic courses for this brand of ad hominem attack: “tu quoque.” You also. It’s a sucker punch that has worked for teenagers and autocrats alike for millennia.

 *ad himinem: ＜ラテン語＞理性より感情に訴えて、ad hominem attack：個人攻撃

ロシアは旧ソビエトの時代から人権問題が出るとこの論法を持ち出すのが常だと言う。その際ロシアがいつも持ち出すのは「アメリカには黒人差別問題があるではないか」という論法で、これが人権問題を議論する際のアメリカのアキレス腱だとアメリカ国務省は強く認識しているという。

There are binders and binders of such examples sprinkled through the State Department archives. Whataboutism became a shorthand for a needling distraction in the hallways of Foggy Bottom’s State Department headquarters ahead of any Soviet or Russian summit: anyone standing in for Moscow could just shoot across the table this efficient—and accurate—rejoinder: “But you lynch Negroes.”

 （全文はこちら→）

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