Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Hypocrit Prospectus
If I was to create a religion, thou shalt not lie would not be one of the commandments. Though shalt not lie means no softening of reality (you couldn’t tell your 4 year old that the dog ‘just went off to camp’), no sparing your grandmother a heart attack while recounting your whitewater rafting trip, no Santa Claus. Lying is not necessarily incorrect. And hypocrisy is not necessarily a bad thing either. In most cases, honesty is really the best policy. But is it wrong for the high-school dropout working at Wal-Mart to encourage his/her children to work hard in school? Or is it immoral for the sinful minister to preach righteousness to his people, in the hopes that his holy appearance may inspire goodness in them? Mr. Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy is not out of selfishness or cowardice. In fact, it is to Dimmesdale’s “unutterable torment” to “cover [his crime] in his heart”. So is a martyred hypocrite truly iniquitous?
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I don't think that telling you kid that the dog "went off to camp" and telling your wife that "the woman at the bar you saw me with was only a colleague" are really on the same level of lying. I think that when the Bible says "thou shalt not lie," it's not referring to the little white lies, like telling your friend "oh no, we're not throwing you a surprise party!" But I like your idea! I really like the idea of whether or not hypocrisy is always a bad thing, as in Dimmesdale's case. I think this would be a great subject for an essay and would give you lots of room to explore the topic.
ReplyDeleteEmma,
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall one of the commandments having something to do with 'not bearing false witness' (so lying may already be covered in that religion), but I--like Meghan--like your idea. Conflating lying with hypocrisy in the way in which you seem to want to (offering up a defense of both in certain circumstances--as opposed to showing how one, lying, is embedded in the other, hypocrisy) may be pushing it, though (this is only supposed to be a 4-5 paged paper). I was intrigued by your idea of a "martyred hypocrite"--and think you might be better off first offering a defense of Dimmesdale (not an easy thing to do) and then moving outward to consider other instances where the age-old 'do what I say, not what I do' rule may still carry.
Hi Emma.
ReplyDeleteYour subject is shallow and deceitful. Its lessens our future and undermines the resolve of our allies. How long have you hated America.
Just Kidding.
Max