Monday, November 06, 2006

Hypocrisy in America Defined

Here is an interesting article that puts into words what I have tired to figure out for a long time. It actually makes me look at the whole antigay sentiment in America in a whole new light.

I have an uncle who, when Oregon was trying pass some antigay legislation 10 years ago, was extremely outspoken against gays. This got so bad that my mother actually outed me to him to shut him up and get him thinking about what he was saying.

I think I now understand my uncle (not that I can forgive him because, after all, I am only human). Of course, this is the same uncle who was all about sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll in the first part of his life. He was a drummer in a rock band and has had two children (two different women) out of wedlock. Later in life, he found "religion." It makes sense that he would project his displeasure with his own past onto others to make himself feel all high-and-mighty.

Anyway, the full article is here.

Haggard, Foley and GOP Preach Against the Vices They Can't Shake

Are all homophobic Republicans secretly gay? The leaders of the party with a penchant for condemning others would do well to look inward. It's time to call them on their hypocrisy.

...

For answers to the puzzles that seem to infest the conservative worldview, we might dust off our old Freud texts. From the father of psychoanalysis, we learn the concept of "reaction formation" which describes how we react to our own unacceptable impulses. Reaction formation is a classic "defense mechanism" -- an unconscious behavior designed to ward off uncomfortable feelings. Sometimes we react to our discomfort with ourselves in harmless ways, such as when a man cheats on his wife and brings her flowers to ease his guilt. Other times, the reactions can be punitive-we judge and condemn others who exhibit the very impulses that we, ourselves, cannot control. This is frequently the case when dealing with lust or greed.

...

What is the solution to this misplaced effort to restrict others' behavior? For Freud, it was therapy. But more broadly, it's a dose of introspection, an ability to look inward, and to shift focus from others' behavior to our own. If hypocrisy in American political life is, in part, a symptom of inadequate introspection, if our fear that we can't control ourselves leads to an unconscious effort to control others, we'll continue to reach for a magnifying glass when what we really need is a mirror.

Republicans have no monopoly on hypocrisy. Most of us are guilty, at one time or another, of vocally denouncing something we ourselves have done, of shifting focus away from our own foibles by hoisting them onto others.

...

-Nathaniel Frank

Notice that I included that last paragraph to make the point that we all are hypocritical about something; I know I am. ... unless, of course, "it depends on what the meaning of 'is' is."

Check Mate.

1 comment:

  1. good post, I concur.
    That's why long time ago I've decided that I'm not perfect.., and that's why I'm not a politician nor am I a religious leader.
    *g* FN

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