One common denominator when people are asked about their likes and dislikes is “I hate hypocrisy”…. Actually, if you go back to my introduction in our blog, I had sworn my dislike towards the aforementioned trait. Hmmm.. this got me thinking…How do you define hypocrisy?
Mariam Webster defines it as
1 : a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion
2 : an act or instance of hypocrisy
I remember the day I started my first job at TI,
I would like to see a smiling face across the counter than a frowning one.
I would definitely like to have a doctor tell me I have chances of living for 10 years ( even if he believes otherwise) rather than telling me that I cannot survive long enough.
Talking about hypocrisy got me thinking about people who are “BUSY”. It is becoming one of my pet peeves nowadays.
“I wonder how you guys manage studying with work. I am so BUSY, I cant imagine studying with my work schedule.”
“I am so busy that I don’t have time to exercise.”
“I am so busy that I don’t have time to read blogs, though I am a member and even if I read, I don’t have time for commenting.” – Gotcha ! *LOL * Now lets see how many comment for this one.
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11 comments:
Wow! a subject close to my heart. I tend to agree we are all hypocrites among other things.. I'm also convinced along similar lines (from Ayn Rand- Jean Paul Sartre) that we are inherently selfish. Something as basic as charity is actually a selfish act... and selfishness is a virtue.... perhaps a blog on that later....
hmm...the last line is the real kicker huh...BTW.. no comments on the topic per se...
Mano,
Waiting for your blog on selfishness.And, I am sure I will be in tune with you about being selfish 'coz I firmly believe that every being in this world is selfish.
I am too busy to be a hypocrite..:)
Believe me. I am busy now commenting to this blog.
Without thinking too much, my response about hypocrisy would be, if you over-analyze you can't live your day-to-day life. Nobody's perfect. If your hypocrisy is under good threshold
(level-orange?) then you are fine.
And regarding busy, there are 2 aspects to it.
If you ask a person why are you not doing this and that person says he is busy, that means, he has high priority things than doing the particular act.
(high-priority could be watching TV or not doing anything too). In otherwords the claim that they are BUSY is fine.
But if you involunatirily say you are BUSY then it is a defense mechanism
When people say they hate hypocrisy, I don't think they refer to the dictionary definition. What I think they mean is, the falseness is so blatant, it drips from every gesture. So, the fact that the person assumes we are fool enough to not see through it, is what ticks people off. (At least that is my thought on things)
If people were to say everything they think or feel, the world would not be a very nice place to live in. It would make people critical and in the long run cynical. (Since it is always easier to criticize than to reach out for the goodness in people)
Ex: politeness in front of a stranger. Who knows what that politeness can blossom into? It could turn into a life-enriching friendship in the long run.
As for time, when people ask you how you managed to study with a full-time job, they are admiring you for managing both. (at least when friends tell you that, it is out of admiration)
@Brainwaves,Saumya
I guess we are talking about the same thing in different ways.Yes, everyone has different priorities in life. But,my point is if you say you dont have time to do something,that would mean you are assigning it a lower priority.If it had been of a higher priority, you would have made time for that .So, the claim that you are busy and so you dont have time to do anything else is BS. As you said, the priority can be even watching TV ...thinking about it, I do sometimes assign TV watching a higher priority than other stuff..:-)
Interesting discussion...
I have to agree with Sri and Saumya on the fact that hypocrisy has several levels and different flavors and cannot be characterised under one simple definition.
@Saumya: "If people were to say everything they think or feel, the world would not be a very nice plan to live in"....
With strangers, I agree that one has to be a little cautious while making blatant remarks. In the other cases, I beg to differ. I think you are making an implicit assumption that, people will only be critical or sarcastic, if they say everything they think or feel. I think, it is the expression, not the thought that finally matters... As you pointed out, hypocrisy is fine, as long as it is not too obvious or transparent to others through other means...
A general point to make (perhaps obvious is)- I'm sure we all understand that hypocrisy like any other attribute is not black/white... its typically shades of grey. So that much is obvious- but whats interesting (atleast to me) about recognising ones own hypocrisy (as little or as much) is about the consequences it has on your self. Sure it may be stark and hit people in the faces and the consequences are immediate or it might be subtle and the payoff subtle along with a side dish of subtle consequence. Only we indivually can make the decision if that consequence is desirable or not. So to me the real issue is not whether hypocrisy is good or bad in the biblical sense- but more about being in tune with ones one levels and the consequences we face thereof. I think this awareness makes the difference in empowering oneself about ones own actions and accountability.
Well hypocrisy is an excellent topic. I hate hypocrites, but I suppose it is a necessary evil. If I imagine a world where everyone talks their mind, how terrible that would be. I attempt to play for the first time in my life in my 30s. Despite being fit as a fiddle, I struggle to get the ball in the court. My husband would say "Boy, you stink". That would be the end of it. No more tennis. Thanks to him, he is a liar, he says, "You have improved"!
On the other hand, the only reason why we do things to please others at the cost of our personal will, is because we fear they won't like the real us. In this specific case, I hate hypocrisy.
Bumblebee:
The second para was very well put.
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