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I've never had it explained to me what's wrong with hypocrisy. None of us live by our high ideals, do we? It's funny when a comedian points that out, but why sh

• ianmcgowan 5y ago
  Sounds like a quote from The Diamond Age: https://www.google.com/search?q=the+diamond+age+hypocrisy https://www.google.com/search?q=the+diamond+age+hypocrisy
• fouric 5y ago
  Hypocrisy is usually dishonest ("I'm going to tell you a lie in hopes that you believe it; my behavior shows that I don't actually believe the lie") or unfair ("I'm going to try to convince you to play by a more restrictive set of rules than I do so I can get an advantage over you (or just avoid having the drawbacks of those rules myself)", both of which are bad things. Moreover, just because you're not capable of perfectly adhering to a set of principles doesn't mean that it's not worth trying. "Oh, I know that I'm not going to be able to uphold every single commitment I make, so I'm not going to worry about upholding any of them."
  • lordnacho 5y ago
    Yes it might be a hint that you don't believe what you say, but that shouldn't detract from you saying being potentially correct. After all the truth value isn't affected by who says something. I bet there were smokers who were part of discovering that smoking is unhealthy. The thing about pointing out hypocrisy is that you're actually lending authority to the person you criticize, you're saying that you believe in the side he's revealed to actually support.
• lmm 5y ago
  Morality is important, but self-righteousness is unpleasant to be around. Punishing hypocrisy helps strike the right balance.