Tu Quoque
Type
Informal
AKA
You Too Fallacy, Appeal to Hypocrisy, Tu Quoque (you too), form of whataboutism
Description
Responding to criticism by accusing the critic of the same or similar faults instead of addressing the argument.
Examples
- "You say I shouldn't cheat on my taxes, but you cheated last year."
- "How can you tell me to eat healthy when you eat junk food?"
- "Russia invaded Ukraine? But what about Iraq?" (See Russian War in Ukraine.)
Notes
- The critic's hypocrisy, if real, is a separate accusation. It may be a fair one, and it does nothing to answer the original point.