There Are Many Negative "Human Characteristics." [View all]

Human beings are prone to doing any number of things that are not positive. Almost any activity that humans do that is harmful to others can be considered to be a "human characteristic." Murder, Stealing, Lying, Adultery, Avarice, Rape, Sloth...the list goes on and on. Lists of things people shouldn't do, but sometimes do, are a commonplace. You'll find them in societies' laws, religious scriptures, and books of philosophy.

The fact that an evil or harmful action is relatively common among human beings does not constitute an excuse for such behavior. It is not a defense of such actions. Most children learn that saying, "But Jimmy and Billy did it too," doesn't work on Mom. She knows that your nasty friends do things that are wrong, and wants you to learn not to do those things. Explanations that others do wrong things doesn't get you off the hook as a child. It shouldn't get adults off the hook, either.

Wrong actions are wrong, regardless of who does them. Pointing out over and over again that someone or some group sometimes does the same wrong things is not a valid defense, just because that wrong behavior is relatively common.

Sometimes, even people who hold positions of trust do wrong things. Sometimes, even people whose job it is to teach correct and proper behavior do wrong things. When that happens, we point at those people and call them hypocrites as a secondary charge that exacerbates their original wrong behavior. We expect those who are in positions of moral authority to behave better than the typical person. After all, they're telling us how to behave, so if they misbehave in egregious ways, we call such people hypocrites and condemn them in even stronger terms than usual.

Moral and ethical failures that harm people are indeed "human characteristics," because some humans sometimes do wrong things. That doesn't excuse those behaviors. Some things, like sexually abusing children, are always wrong. That people in all walks of life sometimes do such things does not moderate the evil that such acts are. Everyone who does such things is wrong to do them. Every last freaking time. It is even worse when adults in positions of trust who are supposedly moral leaders do such things. Pointing at others who also do such things does not alter the justifiable disgust we feel.

"Human characteristics" include the broadest possible range of actions taken by humans. As humans, we are perfectly capable of and entitled to call out behaviors that are "human characteristics" when they harm others, especially when the young and innocent are victimized.

There are no excuses for such behaviors as child sexual abuse. They are simply and universally recognized as wrong and deserving of our contempt and punishment. No quantity of whataboutism changes that. It cannot, or we have no standards at all. "But Johnny and Billy did it too" is a childish attempt to divert from wrong actions. Nobody buys that argument. Nobody should make that argument. It's a false argument and lacks logical merit.