# Blame, "Both Sides-ing," and Whataboutism: When Are These Appropriate? | Politics with Paul #84

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/politics-with-paul-7031218/blame-both-sides-ing-and-whataboutism-when-are-these-appropriate-politics-with-paul-84
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/politics-with-paul-7031218/blame-both-sides-ing-and-whataboutism-when-are-these-appropriate-politics-with-paul-84.md
Podcast: [Politics with Paul](https://stenobird.com/podcast/politics-with-paul-7031218)
Published: 2026-03-17T11:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcast.paulrader.org/episodes/EQaFh5VGRRv
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/media.podcastai.com/episodes/EQaFh5VGRRv.mp3?u=1773748801
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Duration seconds: 3662

## Resource

In political discussions, blame often gets thrown around. People get accused of "both sides-ing" an issue when they don't take a strong stance. Or accusations of wrongdoing are responded to with, "Yeah, but what about you?!" The vast majority of disputes in politics involve at least one of these rhetorical devices. Oftentimes, these tactics are destructive and unhelpful, making discourse worse. But are there times where blaming, accusing someone of "both sides-ing," or whataboutism are justified? Today's episode explores our penchant for engaging in these tactics, why they regularly happen, why the line for when these are acceptable is hard to draw, and what we should ask ourselves before we use these tactics. Quality discussions, and finding solutions to our most pressing problems, greatly depend on properly addressing these things.

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## Transcript

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