Hypocrisy Watch category archive
“Bad Apples” 0
Writing at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Elijah Todd-Walden finds that the “few bad apples” notion regarding rogue cops is of little comfort. A snippet:
Perhaps the most apt comment I’ve heard about “the few bad apples on the police force” theory of police brutality came in a recent episode of The Bob Cesca Show (I can’t remember precisely which one).
Suppose, asked one of the participants, that, after a pilot flew an airliner into the side of a mountain, the airline announced that it was just one of a few bad apples among its crews?
The Entitlement Society, Verbal Gymnastics Dept. 0
David Kyle Johnson, writing at Psychology Today Blogs, pierces the smokescreen raised when someone tries to end an argument by saying, “I have a right to my opinion.” A snippet (emphasis added):
Simply put, the answer is no. Indeed, in almost all circumstances in which they are uttered, such assertions are false.
Note the qualifier in the last sentence above. Johnson is not saying that persons don’t have a right to their opinions in matters of opinion. Rather, he suggests that, when someone is reduced to actually uttering the words, “I have a right to my opinion” (or equivalent), he or she is justifying cleaving to an opinion shown to be demonstrably wrong, wrong, wrong.
Methinks he may be onto something.
Follow the link for the full article.
Working Crass 0
Shorter Atrios: Persons who have never done an honest day’s work in their lives are criticizing AOC because she has.
Aside:
Reworded Monday morning, but the same thought.
Bleach Bite 0
The Kansas City Star reports that progress is being made towards an accommodation. Farron may be a bit overwrought in this recording, but I have witnessed enough incidents here and in other places I’ve lived in which the underlying motive was to make homeless persons just go away that I’m inclined to think he is on to something here.
Remembrance 0
Badtux notes the intellectual acrobatics. The gist:
No Ifs, Ands, or Buts
0
Dana Goetsch explores the craven, lick-spittle world of the “No Apology Apology.”
On Keeping One’s Hands to Oneself 0
The Baltimore Sun’s Tricia Bishop points out the sexual misconduct can be anywhere, as it knows no party, no industry, no social strata, no political or religious affiliation. She offers some advice for men befuddled as to what constitutes acceptable behavior. Here’s the gist:
Name Change 0
It’s now “Taking Liberties Tax.”
Hollow Hearts and Empty Prayers 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Arthur Dobrin explores the hollow hypocrisy of “thoughts and prayers.” A snippet”
If all we say is “sorry for your loss” when that loss isn’t addressed by action that prevents further deaths, then the expressions of sympathy can actually be harmful. Saying isn’t the same as doing. Saying the right words may make the speaker feel good but it only helps if there is some action attached to it.
Dude-Bros, Reprise 0
One of the most powerful weapons of rape culture for centuries has been indoctrinating victims, particularly women, to believe that, if they are abused, it’s somehow their fault, rather than the fault of the abusers. As our society has gotten more open about sex and sexual behavior (and, some would say, cruder), that may be changing. According the San Jose Mercury-News, women in tech have become more willing to expose the misconduct of tech dude-bros. Here’s a bit from a much longer article:
Sixty percent of those women report experiencing sexual harassment, according to “Elephant in the Valley,” a 2015 survey by venture capitalist Trae Vassallo and others of more than 200 female tech executives, founders and investors.
“It’s reached epidemic proportions in Silicon Valley, and there’s so much more that needs to be done,” said San Francisco-based angel investor Karen Bairley Kruger, who founded Wingpact to support female entrepreneurs and investors.
“Thou Shalt Not Covet” 0
(But looting and smuggling are A-okay.)
Hobby Lobby will pay $3 million and return thousands of biblical artifacts smuggled into the U.S.
The craft store chain imported the items into the U.S. after deciding in 2009 to start collecting “a variety of historical Bibles and other artifacts.” Hobby Lobby said the cuneiform tablets and lay bullae were antiquities “consistent with the company’s mission and passion for the Bible.”
According to the story (follow the link), the items were mislabeled for import and purchased from anonymous sources. Furthermore, looting the historical artifacts of other countries is against the law. (I recall seeing reports of such rumors during the Iraq war.)
Shame Hobby Lobby doesn’t have the same passion for honesty and integrity that it claims to have for covetousness. Maybe it should read that Bible sometime.
Aside:
A bit of advice: When someone loudly proclaims his or her own Christianity, lock up your possessions and your children.