Hypocricy and Double Standards

I initially wanted to make this post about hypocrisy with regard to a specific incident that occurred recently. However I'm not one to attack someone, particularly if they don't know about it, I will make gross generalizations about vast numbers of people and paint them in the most unflattering way possible, but I will not smear an individual, no matter how much they deserve it. Hey, I just realized that I fell right onto the topic that I wanted to discuss, double standards!

It's interesting to realize how prevalent double standards are. My personal favorite is the US policy regarding communist nations. Cuba, a communist regime, is subject to massive trade embargos, to the point where US citizens are forbidden to visit the island. Then there's China. Probably the largest trade partner of the US, certainly the supplier of most consumer products, yet hey, they are communist as well! Plus they have the largest army and air force on earth. What does Cuba have to fight with? Hell I bet Canada could take out Cuba with a couple of Sea King helicopters and some boy scouts.

So clearly double standards exist all over, I won't even get into the double standards between the sexes. But what stunned me the other day was a conversation wherein a divorced friend was disgusted about being propositioned by a married individual (who apparently has an 'open relationship'). Now this isn't stunning on its own, what was stunning was the later allusion to the fact that this divorced person was contemplating (may have) entering into an affair with another married person (talk about being PC with all these persons/individuals). Though the two situations are identical this person didn't seem to acknowledge any hypocrisy in the statement. Oh and just to add to it, part of the reason for the divorce was a lack of fidelity on behalf of the other partner.

It is stunning how willfully blind people can become to the lies that they are telling themselves...oh crap, they are capable of 'double think'! (Ok, if you don't get that you really need to read 1984, not only is it a good book, but I seem to reference it a hell of a lot.) In brief 'double think' is the ability to believe a lie despite knowing the truth, and in the process not knowing that you know it to be untrue. Essentially it really can be distilled into blindly maintaining a hypocritical position while still opposing it.

I wonder why it is that people act in such a fashion? Is it easier to get what you need by ignoring what you know? Or is it part of our selfish nature to do what favours us most? I can't say for sure, I just hope that I can avoid making myself into an example of double standards and hypocrisy.