(04/05/05)
One of the things that upsets me the most is hypocrisy. Not hypocrisy in general, but the hypocrisy of people who criticize hypocrites for being hypocritical. That's right, you read that sentence correctly - I am a hypocrite. But I shall provide a defense for hypocrisy and hypocrites everywhere. And I may have broken some sort of record for most uses of "hypocrite" and its derivations in one paragraph. Now to break the record for the most uses on one web page:
- Hypocrisy of its proponents does not automatically prove a theory wrong.
- A lung doctor who smokes has every right to tell you that smoking is bad for the lungs. His status as a smoker is totally irrelevant to the truth value of his statement, "Smoking is bad for human lungs." Same with the kettle calling the pot black. I don't care what color the kettle is; it's still telling the truth by calling the pot black.
- A nuanced position is not hypocrisy.
- It's not hypocritical to label killing as wrong, and then kill a robber in self defense. It is merely a simplification of the position that killing is wrong except for in justified cases. John Kerry was not a flip-flopper when he supported the war until he disagreed with its execution. Whether it was good politics to do so is a different story entirely.
- It is not hypocrisy if you change your mind.
- I used to support strict gun control, and now I support a more libertarian viewpoint on gun ownership rights. It was part of a greater change in my political attitudes, and I at least keep my views consistent (at any given time) with how I feel about other rights in the Constitution.
- Conflicting interests, which are common, often lead to the perception of hypocrisy.
- Imagine that John Doe is a network administrator for some online retailer. He frequently tells his coworkers not to give out customer's personal information to anyone outside the company. The next day, the FBI serves him a subpoena for network records, including some personal information. John complies without much of a fuss. A coworker walks in and sees John giving another person printouts from the customer database and accuses him of hypocrisy. Of course, the accusation is fairly ridiculous, and most people would recognize this.
- Hypocrisy is not so bad, anyway.
- I sometimes like to watch movies that I think are dumb. I often will eat at a restaurant I deem overrated or overpriced. I have always hated seeing lowered Japanese cars with loud exhausts, and yet I bought one and enjoyed driving it for a while. I think it's wrong to insensitively make fun of other people, but it's one of my favorite pastimes. What's the big deal, anyway?
Personally, I'd like to see people stop using the word hypocrite as a negative term. Inconsistency of principles are simply too common for this to be a useful accusation. Hypocrites are a fact of life; get over it.
