This was inspired by Bryce's blog and our discussion in class today. We're all guilty to some extent. Everyone always has been. People can't live perfectly, even to their own standards.
I think hypocrisy is bad, but I want to clarify how I define it. I think hypocrisy is pretending to believe in something you don't, or claiming to believe in something and then blatantly disregarding it. That doesn't necessarily mean that if you do something that doesn't add up with what you believe in that you're a hypocrite. We can't always live up to our high standards and I don't think that makes us a failure. But if you go around telling people to do something and then purposely don't follow your own rules, that's bad. I googled hypocrisy and found this quote that I thought applies:
"Nothing is more unjust, however common, than to charge with hypocrisy him that expresses zeal for those virtues which he neglects to practice; since he may be sincerely convinced of the advantages of conquering his passions, without having yet obtained the victory, as a man may be confident of the advantages of a voyage, or a journey, without having courage or industry to undertake it, and may honestly recommend to others, those attempts which he neglects himself." ~Samuel Johnson
I think hypocrisy is definitely a bad quality that everyone shares to some extent.
Hypocrisy occurs when you claim to follow or believe in something, and then follow or believe in something contradicting the former under different circumstances. This is a form of lying, so this form of hypocrisy is negative.
Then, there is the more active form of hypocrisy, in which someone claims that he or she is averse to doing something (let's say using illegal drugs in this case), only to be found using said illegal drugs because he or she wants to be accepted into a group. This form of hypocrisy reveals the greedy, self-focused behavior of the individual, for the person does one thing to benefit from one group (i.e. strongly disagrees with the use of illegal drugs with parents so they are pleased and impressed with the individual), and then doing the complete opposite, (i.e. using drugs to be accepted into a crowd) without any concern for others.
I can't think of any form of hypocrisy to be good.
I feel like this comes down to how we define hypocrisy. There are two types of hypocrosy. Those who blatantly disregard what they preach (like what Chloe talked about) and those who mean to do what they say but for one reason or another are unable. This includes people like John Winthrop who mean to be charitable to all, but he just defined "all" differently than we do.
The first group is clearly wrong. I don't think the second is good, but I feel they are excusable. It's not right to call John Wintrop a hyprocrite when he did live up to his definition of "all". It was just a narrow definition.
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ReplyDeleteI think hypocrisy is bad, but I want to clarify how I define it. I think hypocrisy is pretending to believe in something you don't, or claiming to believe in something and then blatantly disregarding it. That doesn't necessarily mean that if you do something that doesn't add up with what you believe in that you're a hypocrite. We can't always live up to our high standards and I don't think that makes us a failure. But if you go around telling people to do something and then purposely don't follow your own rules, that's bad. I googled hypocrisy and found this quote that I thought applies:
ReplyDelete"Nothing is more unjust, however common, than to charge with hypocrisy him that expresses zeal for those virtues which he neglects to practice; since he may be sincerely convinced of the advantages of conquering his passions, without having yet obtained the victory, as a man may be confident of the advantages of a voyage, or a journey, without having courage or industry to undertake it, and may honestly recommend to others, those attempts which he neglects himself." ~Samuel Johnson
~Elizabeth
I think hypocrisy is definitely a bad quality that everyone shares to some extent.
ReplyDeleteHypocrisy occurs when you claim to follow or believe in something, and then follow or believe in something contradicting the former under different circumstances. This is a form of lying, so this form of hypocrisy is negative.
Then, there is the more active form of hypocrisy, in which someone claims that he or she is averse to doing something (let's say using illegal drugs in this case), only to be found using said illegal drugs because he or she wants to be accepted into a group. This form of hypocrisy reveals the greedy, self-focused behavior of the individual, for the person does one thing to benefit from one group (i.e. strongly disagrees with the use of illegal drugs with parents so they are pleased and impressed with the individual), and then doing the complete opposite, (i.e. using drugs to be accepted into a crowd) without any concern for others.
I can't think of any form of hypocrisy to be good.
-Chloe Martianou
I think Machiavelli might think that some kinds of hypocrisy are good.
ReplyDelete-Colin
I don't think Machiavelli necessarily thought that hypocrisy was good, just that it could be justified in some cases.
ReplyDelete~Elizabeth
I feel like this comes down to how we define hypocrisy. There are two types of hypocrosy. Those who blatantly disregard what they preach (like what Chloe talked about) and those who mean to do what they say but for one reason or another are unable. This includes people like John Winthrop who mean to be charitable to all, but he just defined "all" differently than we do.
ReplyDeleteThe first group is clearly wrong. I don't think the second is good, but I feel they are excusable. It's not right to call John Wintrop a hyprocrite when he did live up to his definition of "all". It was just a narrow definition.
~Becca
This all depends on your definition of "bad."
ReplyDelete-Bryce C.
We've gone spiralling back down into first marking period.
ReplyDelete-Colin