[SebC]

Originally Posted by Slava

No, it’s not that though. It’s just sheer “whataboutism”. I say I’m not sure about the NDP and supporters say “I can’t believe you support the UCP”. It’s utterly pointless.

Hey, if the shoe fits. I’m not rehashing it, but there were lots of people who noticed this and called them out for it. It was a fiscal nightmare that is not just pushed away with “those other guys are bad”.

Anyway, I can see I’m just wasting my time in this thread and I really should know better! I just don’t see why my thought that I don’t like the UCP and I’m not enamoured with the NDP is so difficult to understand. Both can be true.

In a binary choice, the charge of "whataboutism", particularly when not precisely defined (and the use of quotes around the word suggests you are interpreting it loosely), is practically meaningless.

What people are telling you is that in a choice between A and B, it does not matter how bad you think A is if B is blatantly worse. That's not a logical fallacy at all - the fallacy is to assert the opposite.

So when you talk about A, bringing in B as a comparable is not merely diversion. It's exactly what's necessary to make a sound voting decision.

This is not to say there can not be valid reasons to wish to focus on the flaws of A, for example "I think they're going to win anyways so let's pressure them to be better", but even that might be refuted. And if your motivations are unclear, you should not be surprised when people make assumptions, given that a self-aware UCP partisan would also want to discuss the flaws of the NDP while diverting the conversation away from comparison to the UCP.

Okay, the NDP were a fiscal nightmare. Assume that everyone agrees with you on that point, though they may still believe that the UCP are worse. What would you wish to say next? What conclusion would you like us to reach?

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

Slava I’m sure you recognize while we shouldn’t be a two party system, we currently are.

Worth noting that a two-party system is a natural results of first-past-the-post, and if you don't like it, you should be supporting electoral reform.