Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (101211)	2/20/2005 10:14:09 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793957

...hypocrisy to be the worst character flaw. I've been thinking a lot about outrage lately. The reason is that outrage seems to me to be at the root of the disconnect that I have with some other posters. People automatically bond over shared outrage. The converse is also so--people are automatically suspicious of anyone who doesn't share their outrage on the assumption, I think, that people who don't share their outrage don't share their values. There is much outrage expressed hereabouts that I don't share. Differences in values are sometimes a factor in that. For the most part, though, it is that , after many years of training, my threshold for outrage is very high. Outrage is one of those emotional reactions that get in the way of problem solving. I am a problem solver, ergo I mostly don't "do" outrage. Having said that, there are still a few things that can find my heavily insulated outrage button. Hypocrisy is one of them. So now you have me thinking about hypocrisy. I'm going to ignore the context in which you raised this question and make a case for grand hypocrisy being the worst of the character flaws. My aversion to hypocrisy is along the lines, I think, of your aversion to free-riders. There is an injustice in free-loading atop a lack of character. That rankles. In my mind, hypocrisy and it's cousin, sanctimony, are a perfect storm of rankles. They bring together lies, perfidy, cowardice, and contempt for both principle and audience in a package that, if effective, is a terrible injustice to people who have earned their virtue. In my mind, hypocrisy is a particularly vile form of perfidy in the same way that a double-cross is worse than a cross. I cannot abide hypocrisy. [And, following the rule that shared outrage bonds, I feel kinship with others who are likewise outraged by hypocrisy and suspicious of those who aren't. <gggg>]