In a recent Letter to the editor, George E. Ekdahl complained about a March 29 George Pyle column about President Trump.
In his letter, Ekdahl cited two good things that he believes the president has done in the fight against COVID-19 and compared them to one bad thing that he believes New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has done. But, in his attack on Cuomo, Ekdahl goes on to add several “what abouts” that he believes are mistakes that Cuomo has made that have nothing to do with the fight against COVID-19.
As a teacher and counselor in Salt Lake City for more than 35 years, I often saw this kind of deflection in students who had been caught doing something wrong. They would say “what about,” and then name another student with a similar misbehavior or, as Ekdahl has done, any offense they can think of that would deflect responsibility for their own bad behavior.
As these kids mature they are more likely to “man up” (“woman up”) to their mistakes and take responsibility for them. But with Trump and many of his supporters we get a constant barrage of “what abouts,” where responsibility is deflected and blurred.
So, watch out for the “what abouts” because when you hear them, next comes an avoidance of responsibility.
David Hart, Torrey