People do have a different set of rules, for the near ones and the other ones. Principles also change with time and space. It is quite obvious and overlooked in most cases but a few unlucky ones get rebuked for it and branded as hypocrite. How nasty is it to change the rules for a game to suit yourself? Cheaters never win do they? But if cheating was the only way then would ethics still permit the use of an uneven playing field to prove superiority? Or would the ethical loser attain the moral high ground from where he could look down on the hypocrite who won. But wait if the loser actually comes out the winner, didn't he just change the game? So who is the bigger hypocrite?
I was reading about Richard Dawkins and I noticed how he spoke about religion actually being dangerous in the aftermath of Sept 11. The funny thing is religion has been around for about 5000 years or more. The only reason that it is considered dangerous is because of the power that it has now. How did it become so powerful? Religion always existed as a way of life just as atheism has been around for a while, though only now has it been seen as something different than a crutch of hope. It gets it's powers not from the fanatical beliefs, but from the advances in technology.
Don't get me wrong, I am an athiest. Just because I do not believe in it does not mean I am against those who do. Religion promoted ritual sacrifices and killing in earlier times but even then it was never branded as evil. It is only now that the power of knowledge in psychology, technology and the advances of humans in all fields is being channeled into it to manipulate and further the needs of a few puppeteers. One definition of power that I heard of says "Power is ability to inflict torture and get away with it". It is all a power game at the end.
Right there lies another great fallacy. Humans are social creatures, every rule created to keep peace, stop violence. Anyone who has heard of the stanford prison experiment, the Milgram experiment knows that this would be a lie. People need a reason to exhibit power, to be able to torture. Everyone knows that highest tv ratings are for the more gruesome scenes. Religion is but a way of life, a part of culture. Humans being the closet sadists will reflect it somewhere. All of this though happens unknowingly. For we are all hypocrites without knowing it. Applying our own rules to each of our own little games. So why is a hypocrite a bad guy? Since he doesn't treat all people equally and everyone is equal. But of course some are more equal.
