Morons Who Cry "Hypocrisy!"

There is a certain airheaded misuse of the accusation of hypocrisy which I have long thought should be a capital crime. Or grounds for 40 lashes, at least. Caltechgirl quotes from a piece by Steve-O which expresses my sentiments so beautifully that I thought I'd just lift it in extenso:

Ann is right about hypocrisy, too. We live in a country where mouth-breathers and slackjaws accuse people of hypocrisy whenever they criticize any action they themselves have taken in the past. It's sad that the average person has a tiny brain, and that such stupidity passes for logic. Ann tears that argument apart pretty well this week.

An accusation of hypocrisy is a tool a sub-par mind uses to excuse bad or stupid behavior. If I jumped off the Empire State Building, does that mean I lose the right to tell other people not to jump? Of course not. It may seem otherwise to you, if you move your lips when you read and you find butterfly ballots confusing, but to an intelligent person, it's obvious that it's ALWAYS okay for ANYONE to advise you to avoid stupid behavior.

...

True hypocrisy involves an element of dishonesty. Falling short of perfection does not make you a hypocrite.

If you want to do something stupid or immoral, don't be a whiny little boy and say, "You're not perfect, either." Be a man and say, "I know I shouldn't do this, but I'm doing it anyway, because I don't care if it's right." Or "because I'm weak." Or "because I'm an addict." Don't hide behind a child's favorite lame argument.

Exactly so. I have zero patience with those morons for whom the accusation of "hypocrisy" amounts to nothing more or less than a game of "Perfection or Consequences."