Enough with the Hypocrisy

Over the course of this election I’ve noticed the level of hypocrisy to be extremely high. No one will admit to being a hypocrite, not outright anyway. But in listening to some of the reasons that people have for supporting what they do, it becomes quite easy to form your own opinion. It has occurred to me, that while we like to think that the majority of people are making important decisions based on what is right for humanity – it’s so clearly not the driving force in so many cases. Many decisions are being made based on self-interest, and what’s even worse, many of these decisions made in self-interest are being made by the misinformed. This is unfortunate. Call it what you will, ignorant, misguided, uneducated…It’s not always for the same reason, but so many people just don’t get It. They’re not trying to get it either. To think that these are the people that could be helping to make decisions that affect all of us, this is terrifying.

I had a conversation with an educated businessman recently. He had voted early and offered to me the information I wasn’t going to ask for, but the question must’ve been burning behind my eyes. Who did you vote for? I watched his lips move in what seemed like slow motion as he spoke the word: Trump. He voted for Trump. I asked why in the most polite fashion I could conjure up. He explained that he likes his guns. The most important of reasons, obviously. He especially values his AR-15 (because it’s “fun”) and felt that would be taken away from him if Hillary were elected. Um, no. But ok. I then asked him whether he felt that the need to have “fun” with his semi-automatic weapon was worth putting that weapon in the hands of the wrong person so easily, and thus jeopardizing lives. He jumped around the question, because clearly I asked him a question he couldn’t logically answer. My bad. I then asked him if he was aware that Hillary was not trying to nor going to abolish the 2^nd Amendment. He replied in the exact way I expected him to. “But what if she does? That scares me.” Ugh. He quickly moved on from this subject that he clearly didn’t have a good explanation for by offering me another reason for his vote.

“Because I’m a religious man, and I’m very against abortion.”

Ok, now he’s done it. He’s pushed me to that place that I’m not supposed to go. I committed a rhetorical sin: I argued with the inconvincible. I might’ve rolled my eyes also. Oops.

Look, I’m fine with the disagreement on abortion. Abortion is not ideal, no one necessarily wants one and of course we’d like to see the rate of them go down. I’m also fine with a person’s religious beliefs. I’m fine with this because it’s very personal. I’m personally not religious, but your beliefs are yours and I highly respect that. Because it’s personal…see where I’m going with this?

Please don’t take your beliefs and oppress others with them. Don’t take your stance on abortion and tell any woman in this country whether she is allowed to make this highly personal decision with her own body based on your personal beliefs. You don’t want an abortion? Don’t have one. You’re a man?? Even better! You’ll never have to have one. But don’t hide behind your religion and tell me that it gives you a valid excuse to attempt to take away a woman’s right to her own body - while simultaneously opposing the threat of someone regulating your gun ownership. God forbid. 

Hypocrisy at it’s finest.