On the one hand, "Yeah, well you do it too" arguments are among the most annoying cheap shots I ever encounter. On the other hand I think embracing one & # 39; s own hypocrisy is about the most worthy and difficult task on the path to ethical behavior.
With some people, there 's no reception, no reflection, just an automatic "well you do it too," or "well what about the way you do this other bad thing?" or the thoroughly vague, "well, you" # 39; re not perfect. "If the accusation of hypocrisy is simply a defensive formula, it & # 39; s no more worthy of our attention than "I know you are but what am I?"
It's the form: It is the form: It's the form:
Joe says Sam is wrong for doing X.
Joe also does X.
Therefore, Sam can ignore Joe & # 39; s accusation.
It 's called a logical fallacy because the conclusion does not follow logically from the promises. Latin name, the part of me that finds accusations of hypocrisy to be nothing more than annoying cheap shots could shoot them all down:
"That & # 39; s all you? Ve got? A tu quoake fallacy? I do not have to listen to you.
Fallacy sounds like "false" but what fallacy really means is that the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the promises. Fallacy really means "It is So, much as I 'd like to be able to swat away any annoying argument by calling it a Occidentally I & # 39; ll encounter someone who wields fallacies like gag orders. Since you used a Tu Quoque fallacy you & # 39; re wrong about everything.
Can not really do that with fallacies.
If someone does not have me, instantly, I'm afraid that I will not be able to respond to it. I have an automatic defensive response that makes me unreceptive to worthy counter-arguments sometimes. what flies out of my awareness is any evidence of my having ever done the equivalent.
Perhaps you & # 39; ve noticed the same in you.
But then, constantly my stubborn resistance, there it is, and I feel sheepish for have been so self-righteous in the name of what turns out to be my double standard.
I collect sayings that remind me to to be so self-correctly hypocritical. I try to use them as mantras:
Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
People in glass houses should not throw stones.
I would not put it past me.
Takes one to know one.
Philosophers find their true perfection, knowing the follies of humankind by introspection.
"Let 's be serious. Who is without sin? No one, right? So then should there there is no sin cast the first stone. Take whatever anyone dies out and do not say anything critical or you will have violated this virtuous-sounding principle?
Do not judge or you too will be judged? So no judges? No legal system? Should we just all huddle in our glass houses and shut up about the world outside? It 's like you can not have everything nice do not say anything at all.
Absurd.
So here & # 39; s where I & # 39; ve settled in my ambivalence about hypocrisy:
1. Everybody is a hypocrite ... It 's hard to be we & # 39; re hard - wired for self - defense, and making up excuses for behavior we would not tolerate in others, it' s that we & # 39; re hard - wired, period And we can have double real standard. And they can be a real problem.
2. ... so try not to be meta-hypocritical. It's hypocrisy is exposed, as if hypocrisy was some rare disease. It 's a meta - hypocritical to say, "I' m not hypochrite but he is."
3. And even though we are all hypocrites, we must judge sometimes ... I still have someone who is being hypocritical. I & # 39; m hoping for example that what little tax money I pay that goes to the UN helps the UN peace-keeping forces bring down Laurent Gbagbo, the hypocritical deposed president of Ivory Coast.
Four. ... since questions of degree really do matter. "You do it too" arguments tend to gloss over differences of degree. Imagine someone who kills thousands of Americans and argues that it should be lower than we allow hunting.
Five. Therefore do not excuse from absolute principle ... Black and white, all or nothing, zero-tolerance policy and principles invite people to ignore issues of degree.
6. ... instead, wonder, worry about and study questions of degree ... You may think you know where to draw the line between and unacceptable hypocrisy, but drawing that line is not simple and certainly as as simple as listening to one & # 39; s gut.
7. And practice those mantras.
