hypocritical_flaw Lemon_Soda Hypocritical. Seems to be a character flaw everyone has. Makes me wonder if its a flaw, actually. If its a trait we all possess(be honest with yourself. Do you ALWAYS keep your word? Do you practice as well as preach? Do you have guidelines that are clearly defined that you've never made an exception to? Do you lie, even white lies? Have you ever done something you KNEW was wrong?)than that would mean it is part of our nature. If its part of our nature, wouldn't the true falcity be to NOT live up to it? Thus, it is not bad to be a hypocrit. But perhaps that carries to much of a negative conotation. Lets say instead that we simply reserve the right to change our minds about anything whenever we feel like it. As time passes all things change, especially opinions, one of the strongest motivators in our minds. Also, lets keep in mind when we're feel like being preachy that whats good for the cat isn't neccisarily good for the dog. If your a dog, don't expect a cat to chase a frisbee just because you think its a good idea. Still not good enough? Okay, a challenge then. Go an entire day telling everyone who initiates conversation with you exactly what you think of what their saying. Don't suger coat it or tell them what they want to hear. Just say exactly what popped into you mind when they were done. No exceptions, not even for family or freinds. If anything, their the one's that expect you to be honest with them, right? Write me or post here with your stories should you decide to take the challenge. I'm interested to hear what you learn. 030908 ... misstree dearest soda, while i agree that hypocrisy is a common denominator for everyone, i must staunchly defend its flawed status. we define ourselves through actions and words, craft our illusory selves from what we believe we stand for. when one is a hypocrite, it creates a gap between what we are and what we believe ourselves to be, and all manner of beautiful things can be crushed in that gap, the small honors that we carry can fall into darkness. keeping your mouth shut, or opening it, need not be hypocritical; if it is in my nature to express myself, but also in my nature to enjoy being employed, then letting comments from coworkers pass without rebuttal may be hypocritical to the first tendency but compliant to the second. but true hypocrisy, when it becomes a deep and dangerous flaw, comes when you go *against* beliefs; if i were to preach an opinoin opposite what i believe; if i were to try to stop someone from having fun; if i were to purposely destroy my own creations; if i were to cause someone pain without purpose; these would be hypocritcial, and they would kill Me. of course you can change your opinoin. but if it changes with the shifting breeze, where do you find your Self? what constancy do you build your city on? constantly shifting mood and opinoin on whims makes for a gauzy personality prone to tearing. opinoins are weighty enough that they should require weight and thought to shift. as far as the challenge, well darling, as i said i like to keep my job, and otherwise i have to make effort to keep things from just popping out, which i normally don't. make the effort, that is. the old saggitarius hoof-in-mouth disease. and im not going to run around deliberately hurting people with words just to prove i can do something against my nature. i have enough troubles without that, thankyouverymuch. 030908 ... hi Hypocrite is a cheap weapon people use in arguments. We're all hypocrites in some way or another...you have to be a hypocrite in order to test out the beliefs and morals in which you preach and apply in conversation and advice to people. If you wanted to avoid hypocrisy you would have to wait your whole life until you were absolutly positive that your beliefs were concrete and that you practiced them 100% throughout your life. True hypocrisies are obvious, i.e. I am wearing blue and telling you that nobody should wear blue, but other than that it's hard to determine what things people say are truly hypocritical, and if you told somebody that they were a hypocrite you would subject yourself to their scrutiny, at which point they might undisclose some hypocritical aspects of you, turning you into a pair of hypocrites. 030908 ... Lemon_Soda Hmmm.... Good points, both of you. Oh, misstree, taking my challenge didn't mean express everything in a negative fashion, simply an openly honest one. Unless, ofcourse your saying that you would have no positive opinions to express, say, at work. In that regard, I would hate for you to lose employment over a fanciful request. I have some rather stinging opinions about a few fellow humans myself that, if expressed, would cost me more than they were worth.(and no, I don't have trouble sleeping at night.) As for the lesson of my script/challenge is this... you'll find yourself terribly alone and dejected if you don't display any hypocritical tendencies. This was not an argument for said blunt honesties, merely a lesson put in a way that would bring people to the correct solution. Noone could possibly do what I have asked and I'm willing to bet noone will even try. I haven't and I don't plan on it. I guess that makes me a hypocrite. 030908 ... User24 being cryptic our nature has evolved and is guided by the society we live in; what is eternal? nothing. 030908 ... . . 051027 ... andru235 seems to me that sometimes the only way we know what we really think of a social tenet is to declare it (so that we feel the internal and external responses most fully) and then to break it. 051028 ... andru235 more precisely, hypocrisy can function as a teacher. the irritation comes when it seems others aren't learning. and we've all probably been there, too. 051028 ... Christ without the cross I think it would be a good experiment to do. I just might try it tommorrow. I am a hypocrite but i have grown more honest as time has went on. MY thoughts have also become more positive. so most of my thoughts would not be very damaging. i think it is a good idea for everyone. But i agree, i don't think anyone would do this challenge. 061020 ... Correcting myself well, am i not a hypocrite. there is one exception at the moment. i am ashamed of my thoughts of her. 061020 ... theFish read "the diamond age" by neal stephenson. its near future sci-fi with a society that has a completely different value set than society today. one of the statments made in critique of current philosphy goes something like "haveing no absolute right or wrong hypocrisy was promoted from a minor flaw to a major sin because while you could not attack a persons beliefs you could always comment on how well they followed them." very true imo. although seeking to reduce hypocrisy in yourself is still a worthy goal. 061021 what's it to you? who go blather from