Well,
sort of. Richard Reeb wonders why hypocrisy is the only recognized sin of our age (well, that and smoking):
Why is hypocrisy bad? How can one take that position in all seriousness if morality is one's own choice? Can one not choose to be hypocritical?
And goes to the root of the problem:
Those who grasp the reality of an unchanging human nature know that misdeeds will always be committed and a good society will always have laws against them. By the same token, they understand that hypocrisy will always be with us, as many will fall short but will at least not mock the moral code which they know they have violated.
Our greatest moral problem today is not the laxity of our public officials or even the unending crimes that are committed by private citizens. It is the belief that hypocrisy is worse than outright vice. How many parents cannot bring themselves to hold their own children to moral standards because they bear guilt for their own youthful indiscretions, or even resent their parents (no doubt far from perfect) for disciplining them?
The liberal and secular animus against hypocrisy is in truth a war against moral virtue--which is another way of saying one should be free to do whatever one desires. Outrage against hypocrisy is understandable and wholly
defensible on the assumption that violating what Thomas Jefferson called the moral law is wrong. Faux outrage against those who fall short of their own principles should fool no one but those whose real agenda is freedom from all moral codes whatsoever.
