“We’re inconsistent and hypocritical!” – Sunday Sun

I WANT to talk about hypocrisy. It’s not often mentioned as one of the worst sins, but it should be. Maybe we don’t like to talk about it too often because there’s so much of it out there.

That certainly is possible, but lately I’m beginning to think that a lot of the time we actually don’t realise we’re being hypocritical in our actions and beliefs.

It happens because we aren’t being logical. When I was in matric, my English teacher always insisted that we be logical in the arguments we make in our essays. He said it didn’t matter that much if our conclusion was right or wrong. The important thing was that our arguments were logical.

Taking a look at the newspapers and TV news shows these days, it becomes obvious that there’s not a lot of logical thinking going on in the heads of many of today’s newsmakers or the people who write about them.

Just take a look at this European refugee crisis. Many people fleeing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East are dying every day as they try to enter Europe illegally.

Those who do manage to make it in are often told to go back home, or to go somewhere else.

This crisis has led to these European countries being criticised harshly, and even accused of racism.

The position taken by the people doing the criticising seems to be that it’s wrong to turn away someone who says he’s fleeing bad conditions to come to your country.

When I read comments like these made by some of my Facebook friends I was quite shocked because I remembered other posts they made not too long ago. In those posts they said all illegal immigrants need to be kicked out of Mzansi, and that we shouldn’t allow so many foreigners to come into our country.

See what I mean about hypocrisy?

If your position is that people fleeing bad conditions in their home countries shouldn’t be allowed to come and stay in Mzansi, then you have to also say the same thing about those fleeing to Europe. If not, you’re being inconsistent and hypocritical.

You’ll notice the same thing in the ruling party’s attitude towards foreign policy. The ANC and other self-proclaimed “progressive” movements across the world are quick to criticise America and the West in general for its many shortcomings.

These progressive types will, for example, condemn America for the fact that a lot of black people are shot dead by cops in what often appears to be racist incidents.

There’s nothing wrong with that condemnation, even though pretending these incidents are somehow representative of American government policy is ridiculous.

But the hypocrisy enters when criticism of America is accompanied by the wholesale praise and support of a country seen as an opponent of America, like, for example, China or Zimbabwe. If you are really concerned about governments violating their citizens’ human rights, then you have to be consistent and condemn what happens in these other countries as well.

I don't know about you, but I will take my chances with the American justice system before that of Zimbabwe or China.

From now on I’ll try even harder to be logical and consistent in my views. When I see something wrong being done, I’ll condemn it, no matter who’s doing it.

And when someone does something right, I’ll be full of praise, even if it’s being done by people I don’t like that much. After all, if we’re not honest ourselves, how can we criticise others when they’re not?

As the Bible says in Romans 2:3: “Do you suppose, O man – you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself – that you will escape the judgment of God?”

Those are some words to think about.

Let me know what you think by sending an email to [email protected] .

Until next time, salani kahle!

This article first appeared in the Sunday Sun.