Your flip flops

[iustitia]

I don't know if this counts as a political or philosophical thread but I felt compelled to make it.

Have you ever been solidly for or against something on logical grounds but, due to circumstances not truly rational or perhaps just deeper than you're willing to explore, flipped to the opposite position? Even if momentarily?

I consider myself a conservative in its truest definition, that is a traditionalist. However politically I more or less tend to side with the classical liberal or libertarian. Case in point, I find the notion of amending the Constitution to ban flag burning to be idiotic. For a number of reasons, especially the irony of a supposedly free nation punishing protest. But it goes further. I can take the often-used and admittedly annoying (to authoritarians) tactic of oversimplifying matters, such as referring to flags as colored, cloth rectangles. It's a sort of bitchy, in-your-face deconstruction of nationalism that I think has its place in logical discussions where feelings and instincts threaten to trump reason.

A few minutes ago on Facebook, though, my stomach dropped when I saw this on a page I'm subscribed to.

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/12733651_918740428240576_1437145028241604905_n.jpg ?oh=297779000705416c8de400f335c0ce21&oe=575D7A8D

And the reality sets in that what's purely rational isn't always what's purely human. Men aren't robots, and my prickish dismissal of symbolic shapes and colors makes way for a very real and deep respect for something I'm generally antagonistic towards. It's hard to describe my feelings right now. I'm a soldier and a citizen. I hate the government. I suppose I'm a hypocrite.

Are you ever a hypocrite?

[del]

of course

i'm human

[Green Arrow]

I'm a hypocrite more often than I would like, but I'm human. I recognize my flaws and embrace them. Too many people get caught up in always worrying about how they appear and try too hard to achieve perfection. It's one thing to fix a mistake, that's necessary, but we aren't perfect and we never will be. Trying to achieve a level of perfection is just going to stress you out and make you unhappy. Embrace who you are, embrace your flaws, and just live your life.

*steps down from soapbox*

On the subject of flip-flops, that usually happens when I take a political position and then have that inner doubt when confronted with a situation related to that position and my religion tells me something different. For example, from a political perspective, I am 100% against settling refugees here in the U.S. I just don't even give a shit why they are here, I just think that there is no rational way to justify settling refugees from the Middle East here given how much turmoil there is over there and how many people over there want to kill us.

But, from a religious/moral perspective, I can't justify turning them away or shoving them off to be someone else's problem.

It's a dilemma I face constantly and I really don't know if there is a right answer in those cases.

[Matty]

I have been handed a folded one!

[Mister D]

I don't know if this counts as a political or philosophical thread but I felt compelled to make it.

Have you ever been solidly for or against something on logical grounds but, due to circumstances not truly rational or perhaps just deeper than you're willing to explore, flipped to the opposite position? Even if momentarily?

I consider myself a conservative in its truest definition, that is a traditionalist. However politically I more or less tend to side with the classical liberal or libertarian. Case in point, I find the notion of amending the Constitution to ban flag burning to be idiotic. For a number of reasons, especially the irony of a supposedly free nation punishing protest. But it goes further. I can take the often-used and admittedly annoying (to authoritarians) tactic of oversimplifying matters, such as referring to flags as colored, cloth rectangles. It's a sort of $#@!y, in-your-face deconstruction of nationalism that I think has its place in logical discussions where feelings and instincts threaten to trump reason.

A few minutes ago on Facebook, though, my stomach dropped when I saw this on a page I'm subscribed to.

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/12733651_918740428240576_1437145028241604905_n.jpg ?oh=297779000705416c8de400f335c0ce21&oe=575D7A8D

And the reality sets in that what's purely rational isn't always what's purely human. Men aren't robots, and my $#@!ish dismissal of symbolic shapes and colors makes way for a very real and deep respect for something I'm generally antagonistic towards. It's hard to describe my feelings right now. I'm a soldier and a citizen. I hate the government. I suppose I'm a hypocrite.

Are you ever a hypocrite?

Great post.

I've taken Christianity very seriously since about age 30 but that was also when I began to reject all the universalist pretensions and postulates of liberalism.

[Mister D]

As for nationalism I submit the following, iustitia

http://www.counter-currents.com/2012/05/nationalism-phenomenology-and-critique/

[Mister D]

Oh, and what you describe is inconsistency not hypocrisy. I don't think anyone who posted here thus far is a hypocrite. Hypocrisy presupposes intent.

[Crepitus]

I don't know if this counts as a political or philosophical thread but I felt compelled to make it.

Have you ever been solidly for or against something on logical grounds but, due to circumstances not truly rational or perhaps just deeper than you're willing to explore, flipped to the opposite position? Even if momentarily?

I consider myself a conservative in its truest definition, that is a traditionalist. However politically I more or less tend to side with the classical liberal or libertarian. Case in point, I find the notion of amending the Constitution to ban flag burning to be idiotic. For a number of reasons, especially the irony of a supposedly free nation punishing protest. But it goes further. I can take the often-used and admittedly annoying (to authoritarians) tactic of oversimplifying matters, such as referring to flags as colored, cloth rectangles. It's a sort of bitchy, in-your-face deconstruction of nationalism that I think has its place in logical discussions where feelings and instincts threaten to trump reason.

A few minutes ago on Facebook, though, my stomach dropped when I saw this on a page I'm subscribed to.

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/12733651_918740428240576_1437145028241604905_n.jpg ?oh=297779000705416c8de400f335c0ce21&oe=575D7A8D

And the reality sets in that what's purely rational isn't always what's purely human. Men aren't robots, and my prickish dismissal of symbolic shapes and colors makes way for a very real and deep respect for something I'm generally antagonistic towards. It's hard to describe my feelings right now. I'm a soldier and a citizen. I hate the government. I suppose I'm a hypocrite.

Are you ever a hypocrite?

This is a great post.

It is a battle I fight in my head every day because I am a sociopath. I work hard to be the "good guy" but it is a fight every single time. So I may be one of the biggest hypocrites you've ever met.

[Dr. Who]

I have been handed a folded one!
My sincere condolences for your loss Matty. I can only imagine the mixture of pride, grief and anger that you had to be feeling at the time.

[Dr. Who]

I'm a hypocrite more often than I would like, but I'm human. I recognize my flaws and embrace them. Too many people get caught up in always worrying about how they appear and try too hard to achieve perfection. It's one thing to fix a mistake, that's necessary, but we aren't perfect and we never will be. Trying to achieve a level of perfection is just going to stress you out and make you unhappy. Embrace who you are, embrace your flaws, and just live your life.

*steps down from soapbox*

On the subject of flip-flops, that usually happens when I take a political position and then have that inner doubt when confronted with a situation related to that position and my religion tells me something different. For example, from a political perspective, I am 100% against settling refugees here in the U.S. I just don't even give a shit why they are here, I just think that there is no rational way to justify settling refugees from the Middle East here given how much turmoil there is over there and how many people over there want to kill us.

But, from a religious/moral perspective, I can't justify turning them away or shoving them off to be someone else's problem.

It's a dilemma I face constantly and I really don't know if there is a right answer in those cases.
Emotion makes hypocrites of us all at times, but no one is a robot. However, some decisions should be made by your heart, rather than your head. Logically correct and right may be two different things.