# On Hypocrisy **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 7, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904 "2007-07-07T21:44:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Key_Lime_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/1 "2007-07-07T21:44:30Z")
I’m going to do this without naming any specific Doper or providing a particular link. I think the point will be clear and well-understood. I’m guessing it still belongs in the Pit. Those who play the ‘hypocrite card’ here are wrong about 99% of the time in my estimation. And I include those who cleverly do so without actually using the h-word. We see right through you. They’re wrong because they fail to understand the other party’s true values and circumstances. Often deliberately. Complexity of thought and action is not hypocrisy. There are often perfectly reasonable reasons for speaking/acting one way in one circumstance, and a different way in a different circumstance. There are millions of variable stimuli which affect the way we behave and the ideas we articulate. That is the human condition. If you’re playing the ‘hypocrite card’ against someone who drives a car to the Live Earth concert, for example, I’m here to accuse you of being utterly bereft of complex thought and imagination. If you’re playing the ‘hypocrite card’ against someone who wrote the Declaration of Independence, I don’t even know where to start with you. In any case, I say the charge of hypocrisy almost always indicates that the accuser is either disingenuous or a simpleton. /end calm rant ---
**Author:** ![Small\_British\_Shop\_Owner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@Small\_British\_Shop\_Owner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_British_Shop_Owner)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/2 "2007-07-07T21:46:46Z")
The main issue I see is that hypocrisy is so poorly defined that we are all guilty of it, all the time… You septics are to blame for the prius, though. Almost any diesel car would beat it for MPG, performance, and CO2 emissions. But then your clean air emissions laws came in! ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/3 "2007-07-07T22:01:04Z")
[QUOTE=Small British Shop Owner] You septics [/QUOTE] What’s a septic? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/4 "2007-07-07T22:09:13Z")
[QUOTE=Heffalump and Roo] What’s a septic? [/QUOTE] Septic Tank = Yank Cockney rhyming slang. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/5 "2007-07-07T22:09:43Z")
[QUOTE=Heffalump and Roo] What’s a septic? [/QUOTE] A tank where you store sewage. My mom’s house had one when I was a kid. Every now and then, you have to have someone come and pump them out, not a fun job. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/6 "2007-07-07T22:26:01Z")
I believe I correctly applied the spirit of the word in my post to this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=427745&page=1&pp=50). I resent being generalized as a septic, and will only consent to it if I may refer to the person using it as “little bit” to rhyme with [nit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louse), since I feel the attitude is [lousy](http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/lousy). :dubious: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/7 "2007-07-07T22:54:02Z")
This is a horrible Pit thread. Directionless, vague, lacking in bite…reading the OP was like drinking a warm, flat Michelob Ultra. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/8 "2007-07-08T00:52:04Z")
I completely understand. Some people who are called hypocrites, aren’t. So? This is one of the more pointless threads I’ve seen on these boards. If you think someone used the term without justification, tell us who and where. Then we can tell you whether or not you’re full of shit. That’s how it works. ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/9 "2007-07-08T00:57:29Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] This is a horrible Pit thread. Directionless, vague, lacking in bite…reading the OP was like drinking a warm, flat Michelob Ultra. [/QUOTE] Ugh. What awful imagery. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/10 "2007-07-08T00:59:04Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] Then we can tell you whether or not you’re full of shit. [/QUOTE] Actually, judging from the responses, it appears we’re doing so anyway. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/11 "2007-07-08T01:01:21Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] …If you think someone used the term without justification, tell us who and where. Then we can tell you whether or not you’re full of shit… [/QUOTE] Sometimes one doesn’t need all the background to tell that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/12 "2007-07-08T01:10:40Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Sometimes one doesn’t need all the background to tell that. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I’m just assuming for the sake of the OP that there were one or more threads which inspired the comments. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/13 "2007-07-08T05:06:59Z")
[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane] Septic Tank = Yank Cockney rhyming slang. [/QUOTE] Thanks! I didn’t realize that people from the UK had more ways to insult people from the US than just the usual stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_British\_Shop\_Owner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@Small\_British\_Shop\_Owner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_British_Shop_Owner)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/14 "2007-07-08T05:12:44Z")
[QUOTE=Heffalump and Roo] Thanks! I didn’t realize that people from the UK had more ways to insult people from the US than just the usual stuff. [/QUOTE] This might sound odd to you, but it isn’t an insult. Honestly. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Betty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Guy\_Betty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Betty)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2007, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-hypocrisy/410904/15 "2007-07-08T06:41:49Z")
[QUOTE=Key Lime Guy] I’m going to do this without naming any specific Doper or providing a particular link. [/quote] And therein lies the problem. > [@](#): > > I think the point will be clear and well-understood. It’s as clear as mud… and just as well understood.