Hypocrisy isn't the worst vice

The charge of hypocrisy is one of the media's favourites. It crushed John Major's 'Back to Basics' campaign, for example, as minister after minister was forced to resign for some serious, and some not-so-serious, indiscretions.

An excellent (subscriber-only) article in National Review argues that a zealous preoccupation with hypocritical behaviour can discourage politicians from adopting any kind of moral stands. Ramesh Ponnuru writes:

"A surefire way for a public figure not to be judged a hypocrite, and thus a good way for him to keep his moral lapses out of the papers, is not to uphold moral standards in public life."

Many sixties socialists may like the idea of discouraging traditional moral positions but they can also be vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy. Ponnuru points out that some lefties talk about the environment but use private jets. Others support affirmative action but have yet to employ a black staffer.

I'm not optimistic but there would be something more grown-up if our culture encouraged (1) more politicians to stand for moral idealism on the family, the environment and poverty and (2) the electorate understood that it was only human for those same fallen politicians to sometimes to fail to live up to that idealism?

Comments

[James Fletcher Baxter]

The HUMAN PARADIGM
"...the creative process is a choicemaking process."

Consider:
The missing element in every human 'solution' is an
accurate definition of the creature. The way we define
'human' determines our view of self, others, relationships,
institutions, life, and future. Important? Only the Creator
who made us in His own image is qualified to define us
accurately. Choose wisely...there are results.

Human is earth's Choicemaker. Psalm 25:12 He is by nature
and nature's God a creature of Choice - and of Criteria.
Psalm 119:30,173 His unique and definitive characteristic
is, and of Right ought to be, the natural foundation of his
environments, institutions, and respectful relations to his
fellow-man. Thus, he is oriented to a Freedom whose roots
are in the Order of the universe.

The arts and the sciences of man, as with his habits,
customs, and traditions, are the creative harvest of
his perceptive and selective powers. Creativity, the
creative process, is a choice-making process. His
articles, constructs, and commodities, however marvelous
to behold, deserve neither awe nor idolatry, for man, not
his contrivance, is earth's own highest expression of the
creative process.

Man is earth's Choicemaker. The sublime and significant
act of choosing is, itself, the Archimedean fulcrum upon
which man levers and redirects the forces of cause and
effect to an elected level of quality and diversity.
Further, it orients him toward a natural environmental
opportunity, freedom, and bestows earth's title, The
Choicemaker, on his singular and plural brow. selah

[Prudence Dailey]

I would go so far as to say that the charge of hypocrisy is often used as a deliberate and cynical ploy to intimidate those who belive there is such a thing as morality in private life, and that the private impinges on the public. Which of us, after all, is perfect? Which of us has never done anything that he was ashamed of--unless, of course, he has no shame? Which of us wants to see all our failings hung out to dry on public view?

Put bluntly, the libertines have become rather attached to a lifestyle of soft drugs, casual sex and all the rest of the utlimately self-destructive fallout of the 1960s, and are therefore keen to shut up anyone who looks like spoiling their fun. And they have found that accusing such people of 'hypocrisy' is a very effective way of doing so.

Conservatives need to recognise this moral intimidation for what is it, and fight back at every turn.