Screwed Up Hypocrisy

We mostly have a simple equation:

When someone else screws up, it’s intentional and it’s because of who they are, their race, their community, their upbringing, their education… a glimpse into their true self.

When we screw up, it’s an accident and it’s because the situation we’re in caused it to happen.

This generous view of ours about ourselves is not abnormal at all. You find it widely. In politicians, armed forces, business leaders, civil servants, media persons, celebrities, athletes… everyone.

It’s convenient to agree with the story in your head.

Try it… think of a person who you admire… say a politician. If a journalist talks crap about that person, that journalist is corrupt and bribed. If the same journalist sings songs of greatness for the same politician, suddenly that journalist has discovered his/her purpose of existence and that the Almighty God have bestowed him with power to see the ultimate truth. If you can relate to this, look up for the “H” word in this blog’s title.

This hypocrisy goes further. It’s obvious that gender, birthplace, color of your skin and other visible traits is not correlated with screw-ups we make but we act and label as if they are. This exclusion approach is making the world ugly.

Think. How can we change this equation? Can we be generous enough that we don’t generalize? Can we be more inclusive so that we don’t ignore contribution of others?