Some anecdote.
A couple of days ago during my night shift I was having a chit chat with my two colleagues. We were also indulging in some gossip about other colleagues. It was nothing malicious but, well, it was nothing nice either. Suddenly, one of us (her name Agnes) said something like that:
"You know, girls, what kind of people I hate? Those who gossip about others behind their backs."
And no, she didn't mean Us. She meant Them, those other people, the general Other.
And the funniest thing of all is that she said it with a straight face.
I don't get it. I understand we have all our umm... let's call it weaknesses. We also like fooling ourselves from time to time. But how can you achieve such a high professional level of double-think? Like doing something and simultaneously criticizing others for doing exactly the same thing?
As a young Catholic I was often pissed by the priesthood and also ordinary people not following the teachings of Jesus. I mean this very fact of declaring or preaching something and then invalidating it by doing something totally contrary to it. Like preaching chastity and fucking whores in the brothel. Or preaching mercy and then exhibiting the lack of mercy.
For some time I used to think it was a scheme to trick the true believers. That was until I personally knew the bitches who believed their own bullshit.
Now I tend to think hypocrisy is part of the human nature and doesn't depend on the chosen spiritual or philosophical path. That we are all to some extent hypocritical. Perhaps, it stems from the fact that we prefer our idealized selves to our real ones.
What are your thoughts?
