Hypocrite

[jackfaire]

I hate this saying, "Everyone is a hypocrite"

I had a friend tell me today that everyone is a hypocrite and here is what her example.

"If you say kids shouldn't swear and you tell your kids not to swear but then you yourself swear that is hypocritical"

Uhm no it isn't actually if you said NO ONE should swear then yes to swear would be hypocritical however since you said that children should not swear and you yourself are not a child you are not being a hypocrite.


HYPOCRITE

1. a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
2. a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, esp. one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.

[Slytovhand]

hmmm... thin line..... but I get it.

Although, her opening line is correct.. everyone is a hypocrit. "I should do more exercise" and promptly not.. yeah, done!

[BroomJockey]

"I should do more exercise" and promptly not.. yeah, done!

Er, no. Not even as close as the original example. You CAN firmly believe that you should exercise more, and then not. After all, if you reread that definition, there's nothing in there about not acting on what you believe, just acting in contradiction. After all, if you're incapable through time restrictions or physical infirmities, those would be legitimate reasons. Failing even those, simple acknowledgement of the idea that you could be doing more to improve your physical condition does not obligate action

A hypocrite would be one that says "You shouldn't eat at McDonalds, junk food is horrible for you" and then goes and eats 2 pints of ice cream for dinner. Everyone may or may not be a hypocrite, but it's about impossible to pull a blanket example.

[Kalli]

There are 2 words that make me groan whenever I see somebody use them in an argument:

1) Hypocrite.
2) Racist.

The amount of times I have seen these words used incorrectly is astounding. I mean, words are always used incorrectly, but these ones are generally central to the arguer's point and they don't even know what the word means. They base their entire argument around a word that they do not even know the definition of.

[Slytovhand]

??? Huh?

Nope, I can't buy that for a minute.. or even a second! (perhaps the restrictions element, though...)

Taking the definitions provided, I select : "esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs." Stated belief: I should exercise more. Actions belying: not exercising. I'd call that a textbook hypocrisy!

As for the blanket example, yeah, true... but there's enough of a population who do carry certain ideas in their heads (and often spoken), but do not act on them in any way.

(as a technical nit-pick, your example says 'YOU shouldn't...", not "I shouldn't..." - which is firmly in the realms of the original argument).


ETA: responding to BJ's post, as it crossed with Kalli's.

[jackfaire]

Taking the definitions provided, I select : "esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs." Stated belief: I should exercise more. Actions belying: not exercising. I'd call that a textbook hypocrisy!

Actually no the other poster was right just the act of not exercising would not be hypocrisy if it was for case of something preventing them from doing so.

It WOULD be hypocrisy if they said, "I should exercise more" and then plopped on the couch to watch TV instead.

For example I do not feel people should get hit by cars. I can guarantee you I am not dancing in traffic and do everything I can to uphold my belief that getting hit by a car is bad but if something happens and I get hit by a car that doesn't make me hypocrite.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I don't let my kid do countless things I do. When she is an adult, she can do as she pleases. That is not hypocritical.

Heck, I swear like a sailor (not around my kid). Most of the people I jam with have varying degrees of potty mouth going on. A grown friend who also jams with us, who usually doesn't swear, swore (probably caught potty mouth from her nasty, potty mouth friends. ) Now, as funny as it was hearing someone that straightlaced call someone a shithead, it made me cringe, and I made a comment that that was a hard habit to break.

Does that make me a hypocrit? No. It makes me someone who knows why casual swearing is probably not a great thing to start doing. It's a bad habit, and it's a hard one to break.

[jackfaire]

So is casual slang

[Boozy]

Does that make me a hypocrit? No. It makes me someone who knows why casual swearing is probably not a great thing to start doing. It's a bad habit, and it's a hard one to break.

I often thought the same thing whenever my dad, who is a heavy smoker, told us not to start smoking.

Most people would think it hypocritical for a smoker to tell their children not to smoke, but to me, it was better hearing it from him than someone who never smoked. He didn't want to quit because he didn't think he could handle the withdrawal, and he told us that the easiest thing to do would be to never start. That's not hypocritical; it's just a fact coming from someone who would know.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

It's like Ozzie telling his kids that drugs are bad on The Osbournes. The dude is a permanently baked cartoon, if anyone should know drugs are bad, it's that guy. I think he even said, at one point, "Look at me!!!"

[Aionios]

To quote The Princess Bride:

"You keep saying that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

I admit to being a hypocrite at times myself. I mention that people shouldn't be so stupid all the time, then I turn around and suddenly forget how the toaster works (though, that's mostly due to head trauma than anything), or exclaim my vitriolic hatred for people with bad habits like smoking, drinking or drugs, then wonder when my MICROWAVED PIZZA is going to be ready.

I think a bit of hypocrisy is important in the grand scheme of things, if only because nobody can be without fault, and nobody is above ridicule, including myself. There's hypocrisy that makes you want to set fire to large tracts of land, and there's hypocrisy that walks a fine line. The trick is to figure out which ones piss you off more.

Also, i've waited six years to use the above quote, and damn it, I found the perfect place! Hopefully I also added something to the conversation, as well.