Yabutwutabout?

A few days later, the sergeant led us through a lesson about the difference between lawful and unlawful orders, the Uniform Code of Military Justice and what would happen if we were stupid enough to disobey a lawful order just because we didn’t like it. We were having a great back and forth about what might constitute an unlawful order when Airmen Ogbern, a classic Forrest Gumpish guy interrupted another airman and said “Yeah, but ... .” “STOP!” the sergeant exploded. “If I ever hear any of you utter the stupidest phrase ever invented again I’ll smack you so hard you’ll be back in your mommy’s womb.” He then regaled us on “YABUT.”

“When you’re talking with someone, losing an argument, and you say “YABUT,” you’re being disrespectful and are about to say something useless. It’s deflection, changing the subject, drawing a false equivalence, switching to what you’d rather talk about. No yabuts in my flight, got it?”

We got it.

As someone who has written quite a few guest columns here, hundreds of letters, op-eds, radio spots, and done a ton of public speaking over the years, his words still echo. I write about one thing and someone responds with “Yeah, but what about ... .” Mention some politician’s alleged misdeed and I can count on someone coming up with “Yeah, but what about that other politician?” Mention good news about the economy and someone says “Yeah, but what about immigration?” Decry a heinous act of violence and someone yells “Yeah, but what about some other act of violence?” After one of my recent guest columns about white nationalist violence, one frequent commenter demanded I answer questions about vaccines, the House Select Committee, immigration and even Novak Djokovic. I refused. I engaged with other comments that were on point, some that agreed and others that didn’t.

We progressives like to joke that when we bring up just about any issue someone on an opposite side will respond with “Yeah, but what about Hillary’s emails!” Oy! Frankly, I’m tired of YABUTWUTABOUT. It’s neither logical nor discourse. I’d rather engage on the subject at hand vigorously but politely, passionately and respectfully.

A few weeks ago, I watched a terrific event unfold in the U.S. Senate. They were debating and then voting on whether Finland and Sweden should be accepted into NATO. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul offered an amendment that he felt was needed to make it clear that despite Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which says that an attack on any NATO member is an attack on all, Congress was still the only entity that could “declare war.” There was heated back and forth on whether his amendment was necessary, helpful or harmful. Senators respectfully debated the amendment and the treaty, laser focused on the impact their decision would have on the United States and the world. This is the kind of discourse we need. No yabutwutabouts.

By the way, I never experienced antisemitism in my eight years of service. Anti-LGBTQ? Yep. And did I ever refuse an unlawful order? Stay tuned.

News: I will now be a regular biweekly columnist here in the DJ. I promise to write about immigration, vaccines, racial justice and more, but not Novak Djokovic. Please engage. No yabuts!

Craig Wiesner is the co-owner of Reach And Teach, a book, toy and cultural gift shop on 25th Avenue in San Mateo.