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Hypocrisy is the act of pretending to have beliefs, virtues and feelings that one does not truly possess. The word derives from the late Latin hypocrisis and Greek hupokrisis both meaning play-acting or pretence.
A classic example of a hypocritical act is to denounce another for carrying out some action whilst carrying out the same action oneself.
Cognitive scientist Keith Stanovich has made a career out of studying hypocrisy. He sees it as arising out of an incompatibility with desires such self interest and desires and higher order beliefs in morality and virtue. The only people who are not hypocrites are the tiny and perhaps non-existent minority who are so saintly they never give into baser instincts and the larger group who never try to live by principles of morality or virtue. He thus argues that hypocrites are in fact the nobler class of people. François duc de la Rochefoucauld had centuries earlier phrased a similar opinion when he stated that "hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue."
The term hypocrisy is also commonly used (some would say misused) in a way which would be more specifically termed a double standard. An example would be when one honestly believes that one group of individuals should be held to a different set of morals than another group.
Hypocrisy in Religion
Religion is rife with examples of hypocrisy and no one religion
can be said to be immune from it. The Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal
among supposedly celibate priests is a recent example.
During the rule of the theocratic Taliban government there
were numerous reports concerning hypocritical behavior the Taliban rulers
engaged in while at the same time punishing others for the same behavior [1] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,624883,00.html).
The New Testament of Christianity refers specifically to hypocrites in
several places, especially when caricaturing the sect of the Pharisees as, for example,
the Gospel of Matthew chapter 23, paragraphs 13 to 15:
- "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."
In Zen Buddhism, the San Francisco Zen Center forced its
abbot Zentatsu Richard Baker to resign in the 1980's
due to charges involving, among other things, allegedly
hypocritical behavior.
Hypocrisy in Film and Literature
The following films or works of literature have been cited as either dealing
with issues of hypocrisy, or portraying hypocritical characters:
Films:
- Casablanca (movie), "I am shocked, shocked, ... Here are your winnings sir."
- Election (movie), the scene in which Tracy condemns the vandalism of the posters.
- Apocalypse Now
- Dr. Strangelove
- "In the context of impending world destruction, hypocrisy, misunderstanding, lechery,
- paranoia, ambition, euphemism, patriotism, heroism, and even reasonableness can
- evoke a grisly laugh." director Stanley Kubrick
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- Silver City (movie)
- Easy Rider
Literature:
- Marquis de Sade
- Growing up, the Marquis de Sade was influenced by the hypocrisy of his uncle, a Church official who
- engaged in sexual perversions. He later portrayed examples of such hypocrisy
- in his novel 'The misfortunes of virtue'.
- Mark Twain
- Jonathan Swift
Famous Examples
Examples of hypocrisy can be found among all political parties and religious orientations,
for example:
William Bennett, U.S. advisor to the president on moral policies, admitted
to $8 million losses from a gambling addiction.
Strom Thurmond, U.S. politician, actively promoted segregation after fathering
the child of a black servant.
Kim Jong Il, Korean dictator, exhorts his subjects to make sacrifices while he
lives in ostentatious luxury.
Newt Gingrich, U.S. politician, critic of president Bill Clinton's morality,
while himself engaging in an extramarital affair, and lying under oath.
Rush Limbaugh, U.S. right-wing radio broadcaster, illegally procured drugs while
lecturing on the radio about immorality.
Gary Hart, U.S. politician
See also
lying
election promise
Hypocrisy (band) for the death metal band by that name.
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