We're all hypocrites- truly we are. I doubt there is a single person anywhere who always does exactly as they say and says exactly what they mean. It's hard to be honest with yourself and the people around you all of the time. I'm not saying we need to be, but that seems to be the ideal that we put ourselves to.
I try to do all of my homework as soon as it's assigned and I certainly could tell you that I do, but we all know I did this at the very last minute. In fact, I'm willing to bet our entire class did. But of course, no one will stand up and say, "Yes! I waited! I procrastinated!" No one's going to admit to that becuase we all know we should do our work on time. But, we'd all be hypocrites if we said that happened all of the time.
Have you ever seen the show, "What Would You Do?" If not, it's about people who are put into situations that need a hero to see how they react. A man robs a cashier right in front of you; you see a couple dine and dash; a young woman seems to be choking to death. They put real people in those situations and see what they do. We would all say to call the police, to talk to the manager, to do the Heimlich until that woman breathes, but quite a few of the people on these shows just walk on by. When confronted by camera crews later, most of the passerbys say that they thought the situation was being handled by someone else. As a society, we really don't put enough pressure on ourselves to act, but expect others to. Hypocracy at its finest.
Hypocracy can be found in our reading, too. In The Power of One, Peekay as a young boy is made to feel hated and unworthy of love by the African boys he goes to school with, when throughout the rest of the novel, this same race is suffering to be recognized and appreciated by the white culture which overpowers them. Peekay himself becomes a British young man who fights for Boer rights. In Invisible Man, Invisible Man works most of his life to be accepted by the powerful white society he lives in, but by the end we really know he's for the blacks. I.M. tries, not only to campaign for whites, but also to get the races to cooperate with each other. In The Fountainhead, Roark loves building and sees them as his own personal religion. He simply wants to build. I believe his hypocracy comes into play when he destroys Cortlandt Homes, which was originally his own design, but has at this point grown into its own being. That building was going to be someone's home, a place where they could raise their children and be happy and safe. I don't think he has the right to take that away from so many people when he so venhemently fights for his own chance to be heard and be happy.
I think that hypocracy is a huge issue facing society today. We are deep rooted in it with no easy fix. I believe the first step is to take responsibility for our actions as individuals and work towards having the same standards for ourselves as we do for others. Then, perhaps, society will begin to change, and we will all say what we mean and do as we say.
