In the tu quoque fallacy a person responds to a charge by accusing the person of doing the same thing themselves. The person may indeed do that as well but it doesn't excuse the first person's doing it nor does someone acting unethically disprove their argument.
Examples[]
- If the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is being debated and Person A says the other side kill civilians and then his opponent says the side Person A is on kill civilians too this would be tu quoque. The opponent's response may be accurate but it doesn't excuse his side's killing of civilians nor does it show why taking his side would be more logical than siding with Person A.
- Person A says that smoking cigarettes is a bad idea because they're unhealthy. Person B then points out that Person A eats unhealthy food. Person A may be hypocritical but this doesn't do anything to refute the claim that smoking cigarettes is a bad idea because they're unhealthy.