I write a lot about duplicity and double standards on this blog, partially because I see so much of that govern the world. As our world declines into decadent debauchery, duplicity rears its ugly head. People of faith should not feel surprised by this as it was foretold that in the latter days people would call good evil and evil good. It's a little more complicated than that. This disparity of definition and denotation arises from differences in valuation and from a tendency to paint in caricature.
Inigro Montoya points out to Vizzini that sometimes words do not mean what we think they mean. Sometimes they mean different things to different people. Sometimes, the words only have the meaning people give them in a narrow bandwidth. For example, outside the grocer last evening, a woman of another demographic tried to get my attention by continually calling to me "Bro! Bro! Bro". I am not her Bro in any respect. In fact, if I gave her money, that would end our implied familial felicitation in her estimation. When it comes to defining virtue and vice, sometimes it begins with a difference of opinion. I have friends who laud my adherence to Victorian values and friends who warn me that in this world because of that I'll ultimately end in frustration. When I read Ludwig von Mises' book "Human Action" it became evident to me that we differ in opinion simply because we value things differently. I value virtue more than any advantage the alternatives afford.
Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments illustrates that both sides taken to extremes move from virtue to vice. Rather than pontificate in detail, let me share this image instead.
The image shows that virtue lies between two opposing vices. For this reason, people who might otherwise appear to be paragons get scapegoated when they take something too far. For this reason, good men usually fall harder; they have further to go and more to lose. For this reason, we really need a Savior because no matter how hard we try none of us can be on our best behavior all the time.
Another reason that virtues gain labels as vices comes when there are different standards. Far too many people apply different standards to those they know and like than they do to strangers or opponents. As long as you lick their boots and brown your nose in their butt cheeks, as long as you are useful to their aims, you can expect preferential treatment. The world is run by the GOBNet. It's a pervasive attitude among our species. In my experience, I most often see this from women. In addition to those I attempt to date, both my boss and a plurality of my coworkers are women. Most of the nursing chemistry students are women. Sometimes students play both sides of the game, and since I know most of them are already seeing someone, I never really understand why those who are taken actually flirt. Women claim that men should chase them, assuming that they are worthy of the chase and giving the impression that once caught they will stay with the men who catch them. In truth, many men and women are all about the game, all about the chase, rather than the end, and so this is a canard. Similarly, if women really like a guy, they shouldn't make them chase. Real men are looking not so much for women that are chased but rather for women that are chaste. If you walk around campus exposing your bodice, I assume that's all you have to offer.
Finally, there is the possibility that people paint with caricature in order to rationalize their aberrant and abhorrent behavior. You see, men of chastity and virtue are usually accused of being gay, or, gasp, of being puritanical. When misbehavior becomes ubiquitous, the vile feel vindicated. They are no longer alone. If the virtuous can be brought down from their high horse, it makes it feel like maybe the villains aren't that bad after all. Calling a virtue a vice is one way in which people rationalize bad behavior. If everyone's doing it, one type of logic says it's ok. Making it legal does not make it right; making it common does not make it virtuous. Nobody expects they are actually part of the Spanish Inquisition.
Beyond our phenotype, humans differ in many ways, making it difficult to live or put up with as many as we must. We do not mean the same things, and we do not like the same things for the same reasons. Sometimes, we play favorites; sometimes our only favorite is our own selfish heart. Perhaps paragons are rare because it's so difficult to really live well. We have good days and good moods and good habits, and we know that because we have the alternative as well. Most of the ways in which we differ are innocent, but the clarion call of the prophets applies to everyone who attempts to use it as leverage against the body populace. As I previously wrote, it is not possible to love yourself if you hate your fellow men or to claim you love people when you treat a few, however few, with duplicity. It is a crime we commit against ourselves to see the best in ourselves and draw attention to the flaws in others. I know from when I loved a woman truly that I didn't notice her flaws. Be careful while drawing attention to the mote in someone's eye not to gouge out something with the beam in your own.
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