I’ve been pretty tough on politicians over the last couple of weeks. After hearing about scandals, confessions and allegations, who could blame me? But after giving some thought to the hypocritical things that have been going on in the political world recently, I’ve realized, that unfortunately, hypocrites aren’t just in the political realm. (Although there are a ton of them there.)
It’s easy to point the finger at politicians who fight against prostitution, while they’re secretly shopping around, and cheat on their spouses and involve themselves in questionable business deals, and all the others who try to keep their skeletons securely in their closets, but unfortunately those politicians really aren’t that much different than the rest of the world. Hypocrites are waiting around every corner.
There are a ton of hypocrites out there. People are constantly calling Al Gore a hypocrite for fighting against global warming, while his own home consumes so much energy. They talk about John McCain being a hypocrite for standing against soft money while having personal relationships with lobbyists. The lists go on and on, but some of my favorite hypocrites of the year are far from the political field.
Take television’s Dr. Phil, for example. Dr. Phil is my all-time favorite hypocrite. People who watch the show, ( and I am not one of them) love Dr. Phil’s special brand of tough love. He prides himself on telling people when they’re being stupid and what they need to do, but while Dr. Phil was doling out advise on marriage, family and values, he forgot to turn his spotlight on himself and take some of his own advice.
If Dr. Phil had been analyzing himself, he would have told himself how stupid and self-serving he was being in his most recent hypocritical event, when he gained entry to Britney Spears’ hospital room, a few months ago. I’m sure he would have said it would be cruel to exploit someone who is in such a bad place, but unfortunately his attention was somewhere else. He claimed the family of the pop star had invited him to help her deal with her mental issues, but really he seems to have done it just so he could dish about her on his show the next day.
I know it’s not a Valentine’s Day romp with a prostitute, but on my list that kind of double talking behavior ranks pretty high. I don’t know of many things that are more hypocritical than that. At least Spitzer wasn’t talking to other johns and telling them how they are destroying their lives and careers. In fact, even though the politicians made a big run for it this year, Dr. Phil is officially nominated as my choice for hypocrite of the year, but don’t worry, the year is still early, and I’m sure that between now and Dec. 31, there will be countless politicians and celebrities campaigning for this nomination.