# Celeb Hypocrites **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-hypocrites/500909 "2009-06-25T03:49:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-hypocrites/500909/41 "2009-06-25T21:44:38Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > But that’s not hypocrisy. It isn’t hypocritical for a heroin addict to tell you not to do heroin, it isn’t hypocritical for a smoker to tell you not to smoke, it isn’t hypocritical for an illiterate to tell you to get an education. They know from personal experience how crappy it is, even if they can’t stop what they’re doing they know it’s wrong. IIRC, he was illiterate at the time he made the PSA’s. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-hypocrites/500909/42 "2009-06-25T22:43:45Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > IIRC, he was illiterate at the time he made the PSA’s. All the more reason to tell people to get an education. If a prisoner tells you “Don’t do crimes, prison sucks” it has some gravitas. If someone who is illiterate tells you “Get an education, being illiterate sucks” it has some gravitas. Even if he says “Reading is great” he’s being somewhat dishonest, not hypocritical. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-hypocrites/500909/43 "2009-06-25T22:56:44Z")
I remember seeing a clip of Danny Bonaduce telling his kids, “Don’t do drugs or you’ll end up like me.” Persuasive argument. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-hypocrites/500909/44 "2009-06-25T23:41:50Z")
Well to argue the other side, celebs do make causes known, that wouldn’t get much help without them. Everyone is hypocritical to some degree. We all do things that go against our moral code, depending on our jobs, our kids or whatever. If Cher flies a private jet because she is too bothered by fans to fly first class, I can _maybe_ see that point. Sometimes people are contractually obligated to do things they don’t believe in. I recall when Chita Rivera stayed at a hotel I worked in. She came with a 20 person staff and was all like “No, one must know I am staying here.” I felt like saying “Why? No one knows who you are anyway. And the six people in Chicago who DO know who you are don’t care.” 🙂 So I guess it’s a matter of self-opinion for somethings. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-hypocrites/500909/45 "2009-06-26T00:03:08Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > All the more reason to tell people to get an education. If a prisoner tells you “Don’t do crimes, prison sucks” it has some gravitas. If someone who is illiterate tells you “Get an education, being illiterate sucks” it has some gravitas. > > Even if he says “Reading is great” he’s being somewhat dishonest, not hypocritical. He was not doing the PSAs at the time as someone who is illiterate. He was doing them as a sports hero telling them to stay in school and get an education. He was keeping his illiteracy a secret at the time. He got through high school and Oklahoma State University without being able to read. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-hypocrites/500909/46 "2009-06-26T01:14:13Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > To be fair, John has dramatically reduced his carbon footprint in recent years. It peaked pretty heavily at one point, though… ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-hypocrites/500909/47 "2009-06-26T01:35:57Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I actually avoid most all “celebrity” news, so I don’t know too much about them. However, I recently saw Angelina Jolie say how much she “loved children” and “wanted more of them”. Well, sure she does. Cause she can foist them on the nanny while she jets off to _wherever_ to make a new piece of shit movie. Its a fucking fashion statement to you, bitch. Are you sure she does this, though? I’ve seen a lot of pictures of her and Brad with the kids, and she really _does_ seem to love and care for them from everything I’ve read and heard. I have no more insight than anyone else, and I can’t pretend to care that much, but I think Angelina Jolie gets an unfair rap because of her wild past. Yeah, ten years ago, she was a weirdo party girl, but she really seems to have grown up and matured, especially since she got together with Brad and started a family. I agree with **Sampiro** that her charity work has helped her grow into adulthood as well. Jolie strikes me as one of the success stories in Hollywood. She had a rocky start (Who wouldn’t have with _her_ background?), but she seems to have turned it around. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-hypocrites/500909/48 "2009-06-26T01:39:12Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Everyone is hypocritical to some degree. We all do things that go against our moral code, depending on our jobs, our kids or whatever. Well…that’s not the same though, is it? I mean, just because we all do things against our own moral code, doesn’t make us hypocrites. My dad despised hypocrisy to the point that we would get in trouble for that over almost anything else. But it teaches one not to go around judging others for their failings. We have to all take the planck out of our own eyes, right? Even by being turned off by another’s moral failing of hypocrisy , I condemn myself…because I have my own moral failings. But when someone says it is hypocritical for Bonoduce to say, “Don’t do drugs…it messed me up bad. I don’t want that to happen to you”, I can’t see how that could be hypocrisy . He is warning those who haven’t been gripped by the addiction yet. I gotta tell you, seeing heroine addicts (my dad included) in my own life sure did deter me from ever wanting to go near a drug. (weed not included. Legalize it!) ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-hypocrites/500909/49 "2009-06-26T02:01:01Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > She came with a 20 person staff and was all like “No, one must know I am staying here.” Another instance of how a misplaced comma can reverse a sentence’s meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-hypocrites/500909/50 "2009-06-26T02:10:57Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > He was not doing the PSAs at the time as someone who is illiterate. He was doing them as a sports hero telling them to stay in school and get an education. He was keeping his illiteracy a secret at the time. He got through high school and Oklahoma State University without being able to read. That’s not being hypocritical, just not emphasizing a mistake he made in the past, probably one he found embarrassing. I don’t see why this is a major strike against him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-hypocrites/500909.md?page=2)