Tu Quoque Fallacy Fallacy

Mislabeling a relevant critique of an arguer's credibility or consistency as a fallacious Tu Quoque (You Too!). Genuine Tu Quoque is a fallacy when it argues that an action is right because the accuser also does it. The fallacy fallacy occurs when pointing out an arguer's blatant hypocrisy or conflicting interest is dismissed as Tu Quoque, even when that hypocrisy fundamentally undermines the sincerity or logical foundation of their argument.

Tu Quoque Fallacy Fallacy Example: A tobacco CEO argues against vaping regulations, citing "health concerns." A critic points out the CEO's company sells millions of cigarettes annually. The CEO's spokesperson says, "That's just a Tu Quoque attack on our CEO." This is the Tu Quoque Fallacy Fallacy. The hypocrisy isn't a distraction; it's central to assessing the CEO's credibility and the argument's good faith.

Tu Quoque Fallacy Fallacy by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 4, 2026

tu quoque fallacy 

(LOGIC) a logical fallacy in which a person defends against an allegation by accusing an adversary of doing the same thing. It's a classic douchebag move because it implies that the speaker has a RIGHT to be a douchebag, by virtue of the fact that someone ELSE is being a douchebag.

From Latin, for "you, too."

WHY IT'S BAD
Suppose A is accused of terrorism. He reacts by accusing B, his enemy, of terrorism. Now, it's possible (but unlikely) that A actually chose this argument knowing he was totally innocent. More likely he wants to claim that his terrorism is PROVOKED. In effect, he's saying, "I have to do this, or I'm entitled to do this, because B did it first."

First, as logic it's a red herring. But what makes it douchebaggery rather than just another wartime propaganda tactic, is that it's MORALLY irrelevant as well as LOGICALLY irrelevant. The victims of terrorism almost never have any material control over either perpetrator ever.

ANNA: Abu Yahya, I don't know if your definition of "tu quoque fallacy" belongs in the Urban Dictionary. This isn't Wikipedia, you know.

ABU YAHYA: The reason I did is that I see all the time people using the rationale that, because somebody else did something bad to me, therefore I get to do something similar to anybody. It's sort of like sloppy revenge.

ANNA: Like men punishing random women because their girlfriends allegedly did something shitty to them?

ABU YAHYA: Actually, that's a perfect example of a tu quoque!

tu quoque fallacy by Abu Yahya June 3, 2010