The role of hypocrisy in public debate
No one has anything good to say about hypocrisy, but I am going to argue that it is best left out of political debates -- for the most part. Dave Rubin relates a time that he lost patience with an old friend of his. They were debating a subject over a meal, and his friend insisted that Rubin's motives must be something other than whatever argument he was making. Rubin stopped him and asked (roughly), "Are you willing to grant that I believe the things that I say with the same sincerity that you believe the things that you say?" The friend would not concede that, so Rubin walked out of the restaurant and ended their friendship. I have faced similar accusations many times. Often, friends will phrase it so that it doesn't apply to me directly: "I believe you," they effectively say, "but I don't believe anyone else who makes the same argument." The tactic of accusing someone of insincerity or hypocrisy is possibly the lowest form of argument. ...