After a fitful start, late ’80s West Germany seemed to have achieved a consensus: Nazi crimes are incomparable to any others, and any attempt to compare them is an attempt to get the Germans off the hook. One-half of Todorov’s principle—Germans should focus on the singularity of the Holocaust—was accepted.
Neiman, Susan. Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil (p. 87). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition.
A primary defense to avoid taking responsibility for wrongdoing is to play the game of “what aboutism” in which the accused party points the finger at someone else to deflect the accusation and avoid taking responsibility.
Neiman writes that in the late 80s the West Germans decided not to play that game and take responsibility for what Germans did committing the holocaust. The first step in restoration of right relationship is to take responsibility for one’s own behavior.
In our current time, playing what aboutism is a favorite game of the GOP in defending itself from accusations about all of Trump’s lies and the insurrection and our news is full of stories about Hunter Biden’s lap top.
Children start playing this game at a very young age, about 4, when they cry, “He did it first!” as if this pointing the finger at others dissolves one’s own responsibility. As a couple’s counselor, I have witnessed this game played by couples very often when they face divorce as the mutual recriminations fly.