Hypocrisy

Why is it that people who put on such a show of high moral character and fine virtues are usually the dirtiest fighters, the biggest bullies, and the first to whine and cry when something might possibly be a little less than fair? Hypocrisy. That's why. And I hate it. To me it's one of the REAL 7 Deadly Sins.

Hypocrisy: noun- a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.

I watch several different sports. I have a passion for Formula One racing, MMA, boxing, College football and NFL football. I've noticed parallels between sports, religion and politics.

While I love these sports, I do watch them differently than my husband does. I get interested in different players or drivers or fighters while he is more interested in other things that are beyond my poor female brain. I'm explaining how I watch them because I think that's how I've noticed this thing about hypocrisy.

Here's an example from boxing: Mayorga is a trash talking guy who has little skill. He goes in there wildly. Mosely is a fighter who has real skill. He doesn't talk trash.

Now things happen in boxing. Each guy is there trying to knock the other guy out. Sometimes they knock heads together. Sometimes punches go where they aren't supposed to, like the back of the head, or anywhere on the back side of the boxer.

I just watched 12 rounds of boxing between these two. Mosely never once complained to the referee when Mayorga punched him in the back of the head (obviously on purpose. It's called a Rabbit Punch by the way). But every time Mayorga's wild style made one of Mosely's punches go a bit astray, Mayorga would look to the ref and whine and cry about it. By the way, Mosely knocked out Mayorga in the last second of the final round. It was sweet.

Ok, so you don't watch boxing. But if you're reading this, you're probably agnostic or an atheist. Have you noticed that the same game is played with religion vs. atheism every day? The christian or other religious person will play dirty, use any tactic he or she can think of, including name calling and threats, to belittle and harass an atheist.

I've noticed most atheists these days either don't fight back, or fight back fairly, carefully, and by the "rules", using logic, science, reason, facts and (gasp) common sense. If the atheist should happen to resort to anything even remotely close to the belt, the christian will fall on the ground and writhe and scream for the ref to call the fight because of foul play. It's insane.

Why do atheists have to play fair when christians get to play dirty?

It's the same in politics. But I won't even open that can of nasty worms. Whichever side you're on, you would probably agree that your side plays fair and the other side plays dirty. Of course, the real problem there is that we are so Polarized into 2 sides. No one wants to stand in the middle and think logically.

Well, I shouldn't say no one. Because that's what I do. I try not to take sides so much as make reasonable decisions. There must be lots of us Moderates out there, but our voices are lost in the cacophony of the extremists. A damned shame, too, because Reason is needed now more than ever before.

Anyway, I'm really just musing/ranting here. I have no idea how to deal with hypocrites, dirty fighters, rotten officials (oh yeah, that's a big problem too... poor or downright dirty referees and officials, but I won't even go there tonight), and their ilk.

I do know I'm sick of being called "evil" for not believing in the invisible man in the sky, then being the only one in the fight playing fair and careful while so-called christians lie, cheat and basically make awful stuff up just to get the upper hand.

Is it just that most people believe the fake mask that hypocrites show? Or is it something more? That it's just difficult to call a hypocrite out when they say one thing and act the opposite?

Whatever. I'm sick of it. I think I'd rather be called a Militant Atheist (my favorite, since the only militants I've ever seen in the religion war have all been fundamentalist christians or muslims) and play hard than continue to get sucker punched.

On a side note, I've been an atheist for 8 years. Before that I was an agnostic for quite a few years. I never once tried to convert anyone to atheism. I never once told someone I knew or a stranger that they had to give up their religion for atheism. I never once knocked on someone's door to try to scare them into religion. I was totally fine with christians believing whatever they liked, as long as they kept it personal.

But religious people aren't content with keeping their god to themselves. They insist on forcing it down everyone elses' throats and indoctrinating children with their dogma, and in making the government teach and embrace their god and his teachings as well.

That's unacceptable. That's why Heaving Dead Cats exists. That's where I draw the line. Look, if you want to live in a fairy tale land of unicorns and miracles and magic, that's your business. But keep it to yourself. Leave me alone. And keep your church out of my government.