Understanding that a hypocrite is not necessarily wrong is a very difficult lesson.
Let's face it: almost every one of us is a hypocrite at some point in our lives. If being a hypocrite automatically invalidated one's logic, the world would be a very different place.
The problem is this: we hate hypocrites. We think they are filthy quislings who should be spat upon. We smile smugly when we catch them in the act. We feel free to ignore what they say because, after all, they're hypocrites.
We especially hate hypocrites when they are...us. Come on, admit it: unless you're Jesus Christ back from a 2000-year vacation, you've probably been one at some point in your life. Ask yourself: did that moment of hypocrisy invalidate the beliefs you betrayed? No, of course not. It simply meant that you are human and prone to error, just like the rest of us.
Let me give a personal example:
I believe that health insurance is largely responsible for the skyrocketing health care costs we have in the USA. There is one thing I believe we can and should do immediately to help stop the rising tide: eliminate coverage for the normal costs associated with pregnancy.
My wife and I can, if we so choose, get an 80% discount on the cost of having our little girl. Our health insurance pays for 80% of all the doctor's visits, all the ultrasounds, the pre-natal vitamins, the heavy-duty iron supplements my wife has to take for anemia, the two days my wife will be in the hospital recovering from the birth, the cost of the hospital birth, and, if necessary, a C-section.
Put another way: my wife and I are voluntarily choosing to have a child. Our choice has the potential to cost our insurer about $4000. Pregnancy is one of the few ways in which decisions we make can directly and immediately affect our insurer's bottom line.
Clearly, in a fair world, our insurer shouldn't have to pay for that. In fact, of all the things I listed above, the only things our insurer should pay for, in my opinion, are the iron supplements and, if necessary, the C-section. Why? Because those expenses do not fall under the normal, expected costs of preganancy. I expect that my wife will get sonograms, so I should expect to have to pay for those myself. On the other hand, I do not expect my wife to become anemic because of the pregnancy so the insurer should pay that cost.
It all boils down to the definition of insurance. When you purchase insurance you are insuring against an unexpected loss. You get fire insurance, for example, to replace your house if it burns down. You get auto insurance to pay for your medical expenses and to replace your car if you get in an accident. The loss of a house by fire and an auto accident are unexpected events that we insure against when we purchase insurance.
We don't think about health insurance that way. We don't use it that way. We treat it as pre-paid medical. Covering the normal and expected costs of pregnancy is just the most obvious example of it.
So how does that rant tie in with hypocrisy?
Easy: I'm a damn hypocrite.
I firmly believe that I, as someone who has chosen to bring a child into this world, should be paying for the normal costs of my wife's pregnancy out of my own pocket. Instead of adhering to my own philosophy, I made the conscious decision to accept the 80% discount from my insurer. I'm a hypocrite because I made the best decision for me personally, while ignoring my beliefs about the greater good.
So shoot me: most of you would do the same.
But my hypocrisy doesn't mean I'm wrong about this issue. It just means I'm a filthy, contemptible hypocrite who should be spat upon.
Despite my taking advantage of my insurer in this way, I still believe in everything I wrote above. I believe that I should have put aside the $5000 over the past few years and paid for all this stuff myself. But I didn't. And I probably won't do it for our second child, either.
But if any legislator wants to step up to the plate and introduce legislation freeing insurers from the burden I bring, I will campaign for that person.