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It really doesn’t - if someone is addicted to, say, heroin and publicly state it is bad, they wish it wasn’t widely available, that there was more done to stop

It really doesn’t - if someone is addicted to, say, heroin and publicly state it is bad, they wish it wasn’t widely available, that there was more done to stop it, that if you do it you’re going to become a “bad person” doing bad things to finance this. Well someone might come along and ask isn’t that judgement hypocritical, aren’t you a junkie? Well, no - it’s usually a heartfelt plea from a place of painfully hard-won experience trying to help someone else lest they too fall victim. No different that the teenage “why can’t I smoke, both of you {mom,dad} smoke!” setup that is so common it’s a sit-com trope.

Sakos 4y ago
There are different kinds or degrees of hypocrisy, no? Your examples are great examples for showing why hypocrisy isn't automatically bad. Politics on the other hand is filled with hypocrisy that is far less acceptable, like pretending to care about women while taking away their rights, or pretending to care about the children while opposing any form of gun control or accountability for police.
nhchris 4y ago
> Well someone might come along and ask isn’t that judgement hypocritical, aren’t you a junkie? It's not hypocritical - the junkie considers also his own addiction and habits as bad. It only becomes hypocrisy if he makes an exception for himself, using thin excuses. To take the example to its limit: "You shouldn't double-park" "But you double-parked!" "Yes, and I shouldn't have, I'm a worse person for doing so, don't follow my example" - that's not hypocrisy. But "Yes but I was in a hurry and parking properly would have been really awkward" - now it is hypocrisy. Especially if they don't allow those excuses when others use them.
- hgsgm 4y ago
  Huh? It's hypocrisy unless they pay the same fine for double parking that they want you to pay. Otherwise it's just "pulling up the ladder" after they've climbed it. (Which is a standard tactic for people who "regret" having an abortion but don't put themselves in jail or even adopt a child).

Sakos 4y ago

There are different kinds or degrees of hypocrisy, no? Your examples are great examples for showing why hypocrisy isn't automatically bad. Politics on the other hand is filled with hypocrisy that is far less acceptable, like pretending to care about women while taking away their rights, or pretending to care about the children while opposing any form of gun control or accountability for police.

nhchris 4y ago

> Well someone might come along and ask isn’t that judgement hypocritical, aren’t you a junkie? It's not hypocritical - the junkie considers also his own addiction and habits as bad. It only becomes hypocrisy if he makes an exception for himself, using thin excuses. To take the example to its limit: "You shouldn't double-park" "But you double-parked!" "Yes, and I shouldn't have, I'm a worse person for doing so, don't follow my example" - that's not hypocrisy. But "Yes but I was in a hurry and parking properly would have been really awkward" - now it is hypocrisy. Especially if they don't allow those excuses when others use them.

hgsgm 4y ago
Huh? It's hypocrisy unless they pay the same fine for double parking that they want you to pay. Otherwise it's just "pulling up the ladder" after they've climbed it. (Which is a standard tactic for people who "regret" having an abortion but don't put themselves in jail or even adopt a child).