THE MAN WHO ISN'T A HYPOCRITE IS PURE EVIL:

Wired for Hypocrisy: Why it's so easy to justify our bad behavior. (Sharon Begley, 10/21/09, Newsweek)

It's not only the rich and famous who have made hypocrisy a fine art, though when advocates for the poor such as John Edwards build gargantuan homes, or family-values preachers such as Ted Haggard fess up to "sexual immorality", they sure make it seem so. But garden-variety hypocrisy is so rife—the "environmentalist" who bought a Hummer because, come to think of it, driving lots of kids to soccer practice would use much less gasoline than if every parent made the trip; the "humanitarian" who turns down the charitable appeal because, on second thought, it's much better for the poor to learn to fend for themselves—it seems as if the brain must have a special circuit for it.

That's pretty much the case, according to new research. Since actions cannot be undone, the only option when they conflict with beliefs—which produces the phenomenon called cognitive dissonance—is to alter the beliefs.

Since Man is Fallen, how would we teach our children morality if we didn't counsel them to aspire to standards we can't meet ourselves and they won't meet either? What's the old saying? "Hypocrisy is the honor that vice pays virtue?"

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 22, 2009 5:25 AM