Jayme Joseph – Tu Quoque
Tu quoque is a defense mechanism. Essentially, when one deflects a person’s criticism, with their own misleading criticism of their accuser. For example:
Person 1: “You wrecked my car last night. You owe me $4,000.”
Person: 2: “That one’s on you. Who gives their keys to a drunk person?”
Person 1: “You were drunk?”
Person 2: “Clearly, you aren’t a good judge of character. I’m not sure I can be friends with a person like that.”
*Person 2 walks away*
Person 1: “… Wait…what…?!”
Another example: In season 2, episode 6 of Jersey Shore, Not So Shore, Ronnie’s cheating behavior is exposed by Jenny and Snooki via a typed, anonymous letter, which the two penned at a cybercafe. When it’s revealed to Sammie Sweetheart that Snooki and Jenny wrote it, Ronnie quickly backed a heartbroken Sammie, claiming that Jenny and Snooki weren’t good friends, because they didn’t reveal his cheating behavior when the infractions occurred. Gaslit and sidetracked, Sammie goes to bed with Ronnie, infuriated about the lack of communication between herself and the rest of the girls. Ronnie fueled the narrative, misdirecting the paramount conflict – his own infidelities. He was held to the fire about his behavior, then quickly misdirected the issue, questioning the authenticity of the girls’ relationship, leaving a clear lane for Ronnie to escape with his offense. Tu quoque. Ronnie was criticized, then criticized his critics, spinning the conversation.
2 thoughts on “DB 7: Jayme Joseph – Tu Quoque”
hello, Jayme very nice explanation and examples on tu quoque fallacy, this one is very interesting since it tells us about defense and criticisms towards one person and the other. I liked how in the example you showed very well what the fallacy really means to have self-defense mechanisms knowing that the person was in the wrong even if they were drunk. good job!
Hi Jayme,
I feel like the Tu Quogue fallacy can be summed up in one word- just as you stated- ‘gaslighting’. It is essentially that, where you shift the blame on somebody with so much confidence and decidedness that the other person is taken aback and genuinely wonders if whatever happened is their fault or not.