The site’s small redesign is finished.

This was coming sooner or later… the entry on hypocrisy.

I’ve called hypocrisy the ultimate form of stupidity. (At least, I think I did.) Is it really? Actually, there are two different types of hypocrisy. One type arises from ignorance and the other is intentional.

People are good at ignoring themselves. They never take a step back and observe themselves. Thus, they can have blatant faults which they never realize. So, hypocrisy comes in when they say they oppose something, but are actually doing the very thing they oppose. An example would be a chronic liar who says that s/he hates people who are always lying. Hm, maybe I should take a look at myself before going around criticizing hypocrites.

Why would someone be intentionally hypocritical? For personal gain. Society encourages people to be honest, so that it’s easier to live together. Now, a person can lie and cheat the system, ending up on top (case in point, certain politicians). However, if everyone were to lie, it wouldn’t work. Everyone would be suspicious of each other and one wouldn’t gain too much from lying. So, I could tell people not to lie, when I’m lying myself, so I can gain from lying, but I don’t have to worry about others lying to me. Another example would be between two siblings and one computer. Sibling A could tell Sibling B that Sibling B uses the computer too much. Sibling A does this to discourage Sibling B from using the computer. This allows Sibling A to use up that free time that Sibling B used to take up. (No, this isn’t me disguising names. I have too many computers, and all of them are networked, in my house to fight over one.)

I’d say the second type is not stupidity, but intelligence — a pragmatic intelligence with no moral considerations. Hypocrisy, of the first sort, seems to be only one type of stupidity that arises from human nature. It’s not the “ultimate form of stupidity.” The definition of hypocrisy would make it seem so, but it’s only a form of “lack of information.” I’d say, there is no ultimate form of stupidity.