in a debate, it happens that a person finds himself stuck in an argument of his opponent, on pain of losing his debate, escaping from this situation becomes a necessity and for this many use an old and simple method, Whataboutism .
Whataboutism , also known as whataboutery , is a fairly simple method, it is to discredit the position of his opponent without refuting or disproving his argument, to be simple, it is diverting his attention to topics that seems to be more important. it is an old philosophical concept that is part of the logic errors and consists in sowing doubt about the priorities of its opponent for his preoccupation with one subject instead of another which is more important.
this method is particularly associated with Soviet and Russian propaganda. When criticisms were leveled at the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the Soviet response would be "What about..." followed by an event in the Western world.
Critics say that US President Donald Trump has engaged in whataboutism in response to criticism leveled at him, his policies, or his support of controversial world leaders. National Public Radio (NPR) reported, "President Trump has developed a consistent tactic when he's criticized: say that someone else is worse."
When criticized or asked to defend his behavior, Trump has frequently changed the subject by criticizing Hillary Clinton, the Obama Administration, and the Affordable Care Act. When asked about Russian human rights violations, Trump has shifted focus to the US itself, employing whataboutism tactics similar to those used by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
now when we hear "what about ..." we know very well that we are far away from the reality that we would like to discuss, but in a dimension dictated by our opponents, the fact that there are several more important cases than the one in question does not mean that this one does not deserve to be discussed.