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Holier than thou

X to Y - "You have done this and this. It is a shame. You shouldn't have done this"
Y replies- "So what? What you did in that case was also not right"

This and that could be anything that is most likely to be some deplorable act.
X can be anyone - an individual, an organization, or a political party. Although in public domain, it is usually political parties that are more dominant in following such approach.

For instance one political party says - "X party did wrong thing by sanctioning misuse of power to kill innocent people in the village". And other retaliates - "... (blah blah blah) 13 years ago when they were in power, they allowed killing of hundreds people in their state".

Such examples are many. Without taking any sides, I think this is too dominant in our system. Instead of not doing wrong or accepting the wrong doing, we often justify it saying that it was of less intensity than others and similar things!

Such 'holier than thou' approach actually becomes 'less unholier than thou'. And being 'less unholier' doesn't make the act good!
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Comments

  1. Anonymous4:01 PM, November 22, 2007

    Agree with you on that!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous4:08 PM, November 22, 2007

    At the same time, let us not put right or wrong into straight jackets...

    Some wrong may not be Black and may have shades of grey! Which is why even though it is passing the buck, people do this! They contest on what is worse!

    Having said that, if we get into subjectivism, problems can never be solved, because what is right for you, may not be so for me!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nikesh Rathi9:46 AM, November 26, 2007

    Yeah, I agree on that!

    But at the same time, 'holier than thou' approach makes a sincere attempt to pass off a black or a dark grey act as a white one, which is unpardonable!

    ReplyDelete

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