'Seems that I was busy doing something close to nothing
But different than the day before'
'Met a dwarf that was no good, dressed like Little Red Riding Hood'
'Now you're unemployed, all non-void
Walkin' round like you're Pretty Boy Floyd'
"Plenty of strikers can score goals," he said, gesturing to the famous old stands casting shadows around us.
"But a lot have found it difficult wearing the number 9 shirt for The Arsenal."
They do if the Germans are in charge of them though, that's the point. Their view is, if a job is to be done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly*. None of this namby-pamby, half-hearted, Let George do it! stuff.
Just different strokes, isn't it.
*As the man sort of said.
"Plenty of strikers can score goals," he said, gesturing to the famous old stands casting shadows around us.
"But a lot have found it difficult wearing the number 9 shirt for The Arsenal."
The crapness of the comparison is the point, though. It's how 'whataboutery' works - a deliberate attempt to mitigate, deflect from and avoid taking responsibility for one's own wrongs by trying to undermine your accuser's moral position. The classic was always the Russians attempting to deflect criticism of their oppressive regime by pointing out the plight of black people in the US. In other words, a reasonable point on the face of it, but utterly irrelevant to the case in hand. It's a rhetorical tactic that is entirely morally bankrupt.
If I were a thief, a murderer might denounce me as a thief, but the mere fact of him being a murderer would not in any way make me less of a thief or make my theft less heinous.
"Plenty of strikers can score goals," he said, gesturing to the famous old stands casting shadows around us.
"But a lot have found it difficult wearing the number 9 shirt for The Arsenal."