One word continuously comes to mind when I think about America.
Hypocrisy.
This country is full of it. Understand this isn’t a new revelation. America, much like the people who inhabit this country, is a contradiction. We’re a country that espouses freedom yet had slaves. A country that believes in charity, but we have an extremely high homeless population and children who are hungry; we have this ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ mentality yet cronyism and nepotism are often the reasons for success.
It’s not so much the hypocrisy that disgusts me, as it is the dishonesty and rationalization that accompanies it. We have these lofty ideals of integrity when many adults who are considered successful lack ethics and integrity. It’s quite mind boggling, actually, and becoming even more so each day.
Take our sitting president for example. Time after time we’ve heard this man say amazingly vile and disgusting things. Time after time he’s been given a pass. Evangelicals, who doubted the veracity of President Barack Obama’s claim of being a Christian, take at face value this man’s word simply because he said so — even though he’s demonstrated he doesn’t espouse any Christian beliefs or values. I can’t even imagine the uproar these same evangelical leaders would cause if President Obama was accused of these same things. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, you know the ones who tell everyone how to live morally, gave Trump a “mulligan” after the whole Stormy Daniels situation came to light. Say what now? It’s so absurd it’s comical, and, unfortunately, real life is now stranger than fiction.
Then there’s the whole decision not to impeach President Donald Trump for lying. However, I’m reminded of many of these same GOP leaders who now pretend that lying isn’t an impeachable offense were foaming at the mouths to impeach President Bill Clinton for lying. Where’s the same tenacity to get to the truth?
It doesn’t exist because it’s never about the truth. It’s about power. And those who are in power positions today don’t want to lose that power by holding Trump to the same standards they did Obama or even Clinton. I was taught to call a spade a spade so it’s high time Americans hold people accountable to the same standard regardless of who benefits. I realize that’s way too much to ask from people who can’t even recognize the hypocrisy and injustices in the criminal justice system or even the way we treat opioids crisis compared to the crack cocaine crisis.
When the scourge of crack ravaged the Black community it was not only seen as a moral failing but also an opportunity to lock up as many criminals as possible — even nonviolent drug addicts. Now, this is not to say that the crack game didn’t bring a lot of violence into our communities, nor is it to say we shouldn’t learn from our mistakes, but America’s memory is real short and mainstream pundits don’t discuss the disparity in compassion for the two epidemics.
We’ve de-emphasized criminality and focused on the medical condition. And, rightfully so. However, it would’ve been nice to have the same thoughtfulness that implemented syringe programs and providing EMTs with naloxone also known as Narcan in the event of an overdose around when it came to crack addiction in the 80s.
Not only are we hypocritical in this country, we’re too lazy to even admit it or do the work to stop being hypocrites. It’s just easier to pretend so we do.
I’m not done with America and her hypocrisy, but there’s only so much space.
