Hypocrisy

@relentless-red said
Do you think fear of being called a hypocrite or accused of u turns ever pushes people away from ethical behaviour?

Doing a "U turn" is not, in and of itself, hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is engaging in the same behaviour for which one criticizes another person.

Do I think fear of being called a hypocrite ever pushes people away from ethical behaviour?

I would say it's maybe possible but only in the case of a weak person lacking courage in their convictions, lacking control over their own behaviour, and lacking an intellectual grasp of what the words "ethical" and "hypocrisy" actually mean.

@relentless-red said
Obviously no two statements can be made by the same person at exactly the same time, so how far back is it okay to look for the contradiction?

One could go back to when the [former] hypocrite declared that they would no longer be engaging in the same behaviour for which he or she criticized other people.

Or when the person trying not to be a hypocrite stopped criticizing others for behaving in the same way as he or she behaves.

They would be two points in time that you could go back to "to look for the contradiction" or the end of the contradiction.

Of course, if the hypocritical behaviour is evident day in day out, this is all moot.

@fmf said
Changing one's mind about a political issue is not hypocrisy. Changing one's mind about a political issue is not unethical unless, in some way, it involves corruption or involves deception.

Do you have some personal, non-conventional definition of "hypocrisy" that you are using?

Do you think asking a person who is criticizing you if they are using "some personal, non-conventional definition" of hypocrisy is ethical?

@suzianne said
Do you think asking a person who is criticizing you if they are using "some personal, non-conventional definition" of hypocrisy is ethical?

If you are talking sbout Relentless Red - although I don't think he is criticizing me; he's been talking about people changing their opinions - I don't think he has said anything coherent about hypocrisy yet. Perhaps he means something different when he uses the word than its conventional definition?

@suzianne said
Do you think asking a person who is criticizing you if they are using "some personal, non-conventional definition" of hypocrisy is ethical?

If a person who has advocated war and criticized those who support a peace process becomes an advocate of peace, they might be making an ethical decision. A person disagreeing with their decision might try and influence them by calling them a hypocrite.

There is a problem here if you think calling people's behaviour hypocritical always gives you the moral and ethical high ground or you argue that all behaviours meeting the definition must be unethical. It requires you to try and argue that it is a non-conventional usage of 'hypocrisy' in examples of this nature, but I don't believe that actually works. They do fit the conventional definition and they show that 'hypocrisy' can be used to label behaviours that are ethical.

@relentless-red said
If a person who has advocated war and criticized those who support a peace process becomes an advocate of peace, they might be making an ethical decision. A person disagreeing with their decision might try and influence them by calling them a hypocrite.

Changing one's mind is not hypocrisy. If an accusation of hypocrisy is false or mistaken, so be it. If someone is "influenced" to change their mind back to what it thought before again by being criticized, so be it.

@relentless-red said
There is a problem here if you think calling people's behaviour hypocritical always gives you the moral and ethical high ground or you argue that all behaviours meeting the definition must be unethical.

Do you believe that hypocritical behaviour is unethical?

@relentless-red said
It requires you to try and argue that it is a non-conventional usage of 'hypocrisy' in examples of this nature, but I don't believe that actually works.

If you are defining hypocrisy as 'changing one's mind' then that simply is not a conventional meaning of the word.

@relentless-red said
They do fit the conventional definition and they show that 'hypocrisy' can be used to label behaviours that are ethical.

Do ordinary people generally exhibit more hypocrisy in their online interactions than they do in their offline interactions?

@fmf said
Do ordinary people generally exhibit more hypocrisy in their online interactions than they do in their offline interactions?

This is the thread OP's question.

@divegeester said
Another more pertinent example of hypocrisy would be Duchess64 who this week attacked me for “hurling insults” at her when she is without doubt one of the biggest exponents of “hurling insults”.

This is a good example. I think it is uncontroversial to describe Duchess64 as hypocritical in the matter of "hurling abuse" and "personal insults". The question is: Does hypocrisy increase with disinhibition [for example, online disinhibition]?

@fmf said
The question is: Does hypocrisy increase with disinhibition [for example, online disinhibition]?

I don’t know the answer to that, but I suppose it is more likely to increase in a forum based online environment where conflict is common and positions need to be held and defended. I see a lot of hypocrisy in these circumstances.

@relentless-red said
If a person who has advocated war and criticized those who support a peace process becomes an advocate of peace, they might be making an ethical decision. A person disagreeing with their decision might try and influence them by calling them a hypocrite.

This is not an example of hypocrisy, it is an example of changing one’s mind.

@relentless-red said
They do fit the conventional definition and they show that 'hypocrisy' can be used to label behaviours that are ethical.

I have frequently been accused ~ incorrectly ~ of hypocrisy by the likes of chaney3, Suzianne, SecondSon, dj2becker and Eladar, to name but a few. The fact that people can be falsely or incorrectly labelled as hypocrites does not, I think, matter much to the answering of the OP question.

@relentless-red said
There is a problem here if you think calling people's behaviour hypocritical always gives you the moral and ethical high ground or you argue that all behaviours meeting the definition must be unethical. It requires you to try and argue that it is a non-conventional usage of 'hypocrisy' in examples of this nature, but I don't believe that actually works. They do fit the ...[text shortened]... entional definition and they show that 'hypocrisy' can be used to label behaviours that are ethical.

I’m not sure why you are addressing this to Suzianne and it’s not answering her question either.

Anyway, I don’t think what you’ve written here makes any sense.