Ah Hypocrisy, how bountiful you be. . . . .
hy·poc·ri·sy -[hi-pok-ruh-see]
noun, plural hy·poc·ri·sies.
1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.
I am guilty of it, although I do strive to not be a hypocrite. I don't tolerate other religions, or sexual preference or races or political affiliation.
I DON'T CARE to differentiate.
As long as your life doesn't involve the harm of a fellow biped or quadruped. I don't care who you chose to love, or worship, or vote for. If you don't beat or molest children or animals, or think blood sacrifice is of the utmost importance then I am about live and let live.
My guilt would stem from the fact that I laugh at jokes I probably shouldn't, or say things I shouldn't in a moment of thoughtlessness. The difference? I THINK. I am aware (and yes even ashamed of myself), BUT I DON'T WALK AROUND PRETENDING TO BE SOMEONE I AM NOT. If I even remotely think I offended someone I will go to the ends of the earth to make amends. I also try to educate myself about the differences between what I believe to know vs what the actual facts are. HUGE DIFFERENCE most of the time. And I would hope those that know me would be willing to point out if I cross a line with them so that I might try to make amends for my offense even if done in ignorance.
I find it increasingly difficult to be polite to people who constantly behave as the walking talking poster child for Hypocrisy. By this I mean, They laugh at a racist joke, or make a remark about someone else's belief system or thoughts or manners or appearance or lifestyle, but get up and go to their place of worship on Sunday and ask for forgiveness AND that makes the deplorable behavior acceptable? Don't even THINK you can bring up a different belief system to them, or you will get a verbal beat down. (That would be called religious intolerance for those of you playing along at home).
This rant came about because of something that happened to the spouse this week. Someone brought up a clip on the interwebs of a black man making a racist joke. Everyone agreed it was pretty funny, I myself haven't seen it, but again, to each their own. My spouse and I watch "Robot Chicken" where if you have seen it, NOTHING IS SACRED EVER. I catch myself at times being appalled but no one is holding my head to the TV screen. I get up and leave if I don't like what I see. That is the amazing thing in this beautiful country of ours. FREE SPEECH. If I don't like what they have to say, I just don't listen. I don't get my knickers in a twist or become offended. Apparently after the first interwebs clip, my husband told them to pull up something with from the show we watch with a religious context. Apparently that was highly offensive and someone that just laughed at the racist clip left in a huff. Um, 'kay?
This is mostly around religion because of our new residential location. I don't mean to say that everyone I have met is like this, but there have been enough that I want to scream. I am a horrible person because of my lack of moral fiber in not going to a building once a week to have an intermediary handle my spiritual well being, and yet, I strive to be a better person everyday. I am not perfect, but I also don't pretend to be. I don't say one thing and do the exact opposite, because there is a thing called integrity which is probably the number one building block I strive to live by.
OK, enough soap boxing.
I just have no tolerance for fake. It gets old. Don't be kind to my face and talk about me behind my back. I have friends that like me just fine, and if I upset them, I would hope they know I am grown enough to own the mistake and try to learn from it and make things better. I don't snicker behind my hand and then go ask someone else to absolve me of my lack of MORAL FIBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next to Kentucky, Arizona and West Virginia, I dare say Alabama is one more state that I wouldn't consider moving to, due to this type of thing. It's not, shall we say "progressive."
ReplyDeleteI loved all of your talking points!
Furthermore, hell, I don't even have to leave the state of NY to encounter folks who I have to compel myself to AVOID talking about theology, especially about JC, because this one co-worker's POV, apparently, is the only (subtext: CORRECT) view to have. It gets old after a while. Oh, PS? The same person who claims to be an elder in her church, the one who doesn't even comprehend what the "AME" of her particular denomination means, much less comprehend the structure/hierarchy of her church, the same person with whom I cannot speak of Jesus AT ALL? Yeah, SHE is the one who, one day, a few years ago, emailed me a picture of her morning bowel movement. (Why? I don't know? Perhaps she was proud of it? It was prodigious. I was more appalled at: 1. The paucity (and by paucity, I mean OUTRIGHT LACK THEREOF) of TP; and 2. She sent it on the workplace email server.)
Remember that scene in Porky's when the two gym teachers (young Kim Catrall) are going to bang in the boys' locker room? They meet Ballbricker on the stairs and she goes on about how she's going to have the gym teacher fired for "moral turpitude". This post reminds me of that scene for some reason. "Moral turpitude" "Beulah Ball Breaker"
ReplyDeleteThis only makes sense if you've seen the movie. But maybe you find this movie offensive. In which case, you should fear for my soul because I thought it was hilarious!
Hahahahahaha! Yes, that was good! Forgot all about that!
DeleteYanno, I never knew Kim Catrall was that gym teacher. Speaking of Catrall, it makes me think of that movie 48 Hours, because a very young James Remarr (aka Richard) was in that. I hardly recognized him. He was so young, so slight of build... and greasy.
ReplyDelete