The Difficulties with Consistency and Hypocrisy

Yesterday, as a precursor to what’s probably in store for the remainder of this next week, I saw several people posting about dolphins being killed in Denmark.  It struck me as odd; not that these dolphins were being killed, but rather the backlash that it had produced in a lot of my fellow Americans.  To me, this is no different than a slaughterhouse in America where we kill pigs or cows.  Somehow though, the people who were disgusted by the dolphin pictures are people who I know eat cows and pigs on a regular basis and even hold it as a weird sense of pride or Americanism.  For an example of this, bring up bacon in a conversation and see what happens.

This got me to thinking about consistency and culture somewhat.  I posted something about how dolphins are to Americans as cows are to Indians and got some hilarious responses, all by men I might add.  It’s interesting how across different cultures some animals are considered sacred while others are not.  Apparently, dolphins are considered sacred in American culture.  I think I witnessed the same visceral reaction on Facebook that one would expect were you to take an Indian and show him a picture of a slaughterhouse in America.  If you are wondering whether this is true or not, simply type in the words “inside a slaughterhouse” in a basic Google search and you will see what I mean.

Let’s widen our perspective a little on consistency for a minute.  For me, it is much easier to see hypocrisy and inconsistencies in the lives of others rather than in my own life.  This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t strive for consistency; just that we need to realize that everyone falls short of being completely consistent in their beliefs and especially their practices.  Personally, I like to think I care a great deal about the environment.  In reality though, I fly every single chance I get.  Not only that, but I don’t even buy the carbon offsets!  To top it off while I’m in the midst of my own confession, I’ve come to the point where I don’t even feel guilty about it anymore.

Another area I struggle with is finances.  I have personally helped others get out of debt or at least get better control of their finances.  In the meantime, I eat out way more than could ever be justified by someone who advocates a good personal spending plan/budget or even someone who advocates for an overall healthy lifestyle.

Consistency is so difficult no matter what level, be it individual, a school, a neighborhood, a city, a church or synagogue or mosque, on a societal level period.  I grew up in the Christian subculture and so will reflect momentarily on what I see as a glaring inconsistency there.  Almost every Christian I know is definitively pro-life.  Or are they?  Those same pro-lifers that stand outside of abortion clinics are often the same people that are defending unnecessary wars?  So maybe a better way to put it would be pro-life until a certain age where you can be held responsible for your actions?  And if those actions are against our country than maybe we’re pro-death in your case as opposed to pro-life?

Just to be clear, I’m pro military personnel, not pro-military, in case you were wondering.  I know that may sound like semantics so let me expound for a moment.  I’m pro-personnel, meaning I’d rather see our soldiers be able to stay at home and work on domestic problems in our own country or at the very least care for their families in person as opposed to relying on Skype from Afghanistan and other far away places.  I’m pro-personnel, meaning I’d rather see our ‘defense’ be just that, a ‘defense’ rather than an ‘offense’ as seems to be the case the last decade or so.  I’d also like to try and protect the psyches of our young men and women from the atrocities of war and the subsequent consequences like PTSD by not having them go over to those countries in the first place.

Back to the original idea of the difficulty of consistency; we all struggle with this.  We would do ourselves and the world around us a huge favor if we were as forgiving of one another as we are of ourselves.  Some people want politicians who won’t compromise.  Isn’t that the nature of politics, to compromise?  A case in point might be Ron Paul.  I have never seen a politician’s supporters be as supportive as that guy’s supporters.  However, as a friend pointed out to me, how many laws has he actually passed during his tenure?  I think my friend said he successfully passed only 2 laws during his entire tenure?  It’s more a matter of what you’re willing to compromise over rather than if you’ll compromise at all.

So, what areas do you struggle with consistency and hypocrisy in?  Let me give you a few of mine to help you start thinking that way.  My most clear ones are as follows; pride, purity, environment, loving others as myself among many others I’m sure.  Maybe to get a clearer picture of my struggles you should ask my girlfriend or my family and friends, I’m sure they could point out a ton that I don’t even realize.