At What Cost “At What Cost”

I have become a bit wary of “at what cost” arguments. You know the kind…

A: [Nation X] just landed a probe on Venus.
B: But at what cost? They are still imprisoning people [of ethnicity Y].

… Or…

A: [Politician K] cut employment by 20% in her first mandate.
B: But at what cost? My hamster died and now I have tinnitus.

I’m not saying these are never valid points or that they shouldn’t be raised, but they often don’t fit into the argument^* and become non-sequiturs with the potential of derailing what could have been a reasoned debate. They also have a whiff of whataboutism about them.

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^*On the other hand, things like…

A: Say what you will, but at least they managed to get the trains running on time.
B: But at what cost? You know they use distilled baby panda blood to fuel their engines, right?

On point.