For those who have been following along (and even more so for those who haven't been), the last few posts ... well, the last several posts have been about one core topic: justice. I have been arguing that what is just is more important and more relevant than what is merely legal. Justice, as I have been describing and discussing it, is always ethical and morally sound, whereas what is legal is not. There is such a thing as unjust laws.
The matter is not one of simple intellectual fascination, rather it is a matter of very practical importance. My admonition at the end of the previous post -- to change your mind -- is a very serious one. What is means practically is that while we may (and many often do) think one thing and say another, it is much more difficult to think one thing and do another. This is the root of the old, and very wise, saying that actions speak louder than words. Yes, once again, I'm not breaking new ground; I'm merely pointing at things that too many seem to have forgotten.
Thinking one thing and saying another or saying one thing and doing another has a name: hypocrisy. It's a much more serious matter than we think. For those of you who have read the Christian gospels, you will be acutely aware of the fact that Jesus' problem with the local powers-that-be, the Scribes and Pharisees, was quite straightforward: he accused them of being hypocrites, which they were. I only mention this because we have the same situation today, regardless of the fact that we neither have Jesus nor Scribes or Pharisees running around. Instead, we have politicians and pundits, and in many regards, they are simply much worse. Congress can speak of fiscal responsibility and getting government spending under control so they cut federal programs that would help the needy, but it doesn't stop them from giving themselves a raise or increasing defense spending. Lots of people speak of freedom, but advocate harsher punishments for protestors, more force to suppress them, or simply passing laws to restrict those freedoms themselves. All of this is hypocritical to the greatest extent. It's not an American phenomenon, by the way, it is a universal one, and modern one in this form (the ancient world had the problem in simply another form).
The real problem with hypocrisy, though, is that it is the poisoner of justice. Where you have hypocrisy, you cannot have justice. Where you have no justice, you have unneeded suffering. Where you have unneeded suffering, you have destruction and death. Where you have destruction and death, you have no real life. No, hypocrisy is a serious problem, and it is like a disease or disability or worse, because, at bottom, it is a mental illness. Hypocrisy has to do with how we think in relation to how we act.
When I challenged everyone to change their minds, what I was primarily doing was asking everyone to take another look and see whether you may not have become infected by the hypocrisy "virus". Do you think you are entitled to certain things that others are not entitled to? Do you believe you deserve more than others? Do you believe that you are solely responsible for your own success but that others are personally responsible for their own failures? Do you clamor for law and order, yet park where you're not supposed to or drive over the legal speed limit? Are there simply some laws that are more applicable to others than to yourself? Do you support certain issues (say, for example, nuclear power or dirty energy) but are against them if you are affected directly (say, having a nuclear power plant built next door or being forced out of your home because a leaky pipeline is being put through)? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, or if you hesitated even a bit before you answered, you may be suffering from some form of the disease.
The downside is that there is no one you can turn to who can cure you. The upside is that you can cure yourself.
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