Thread by @ZaidJilani

One of the arguments Jerry Falwell made to Jesse Jackson was that South Africa was being singled out for a boycott when worse abuses exist elsewhere. Even if that was true, that's kind of an argument against solving any problem ever except the worst one? https://t.co/bEMlTttKuD

https://twitter.com/PhilipWegmann/status/1680973868549173255

I think boycotting China is kind of what Trump and Biden are pushing forward with the tariffs and industrial policies they implemented but a complete boycott of China is infeasible at this time because we're too linked. Smaller sanctions on small countries aren't, though.

Falwell was not actually concerned about what was happening elsewhere in Africa he was just using it as a Soviet style whataboutism attack, kinda like when people do it with this conflict. That's the point, it's just anti-human rights.

https://twitter.com/ohhamburge/status/1681017902630154240

Occasionally you will see someone who wants a universal human rights policy but 99% of the time this tactic is just distracting like when the Soviets used it during the Cold War. They don't actually concern themselves with human rights, they just don't want accountability.

It's a great debate to watch because it's kind of how almost all human rights arguments go today in 2023. Someone raises legitimate issues and someone else says okay but whatabout X Y and Z, refusing to grapple with the issues. Copy and paste repeat.

https://twitter.com/Amb8819/status/1681018482731655171