Card 7 of 24 · Relevance
Tu quoque
Responding to criticism with, “Yeah, but you do it too.”
Whether someone is a hypocrite has little to do with whether their criticism is true.
Example
“You forgot to recycle.”
“Well, I’ve seen you forget before.”
“You too.” A species of circumstantial ad hominem; also called the appeal to hypocrisy.
Diagnosis: Inconsistency between S’s words and deeds is a fact about S, not about X. A hypocrite can still be right.
“The church committed atrocities in the Crusades, so its moral teachings are false.” The church’s failures indict its members; they don’t refute the teaching that cruelty is wrong — which the critique itself assumes.
“You eat meat, so you can’t argue against factory farming.” Inconsistency may call for repentance, but the argument against factory farming stands or falls on its own.
“You proof-text too, so you can’t complain about my proof-texting.” Both readers may need better method; mutual guilt doesn’t validate either reading.
Trail recovery
Concede the inconsistency gracefully, then return to the issue. Owning your own lapses disarms the move and keeps the conversation focused.
Try saying: “Fair — I’m not consistent on that either. But is the point itself right?”
Keep questioning. Keep exploring.