Why Our Blatant Hypocrisy Means We Have No Moral Standing To Call Out Russian War Crimes
There is a famous definition of "hypocrite" from the Gospels that Noam Chomsky used to talk about. A hypocrite is someone who refuses to apply to himself the standards he applies to others. By this standard, the entire commentary of the current war on Ukraine is pure hypocrisy, as was the discussion of preceding wars like Iraq, Afghanistan and the "War on Terror." Our government and intellectuals cannot comprehend that we should apply to ourselves the standards we apply to others. There couldn't be a moral principle more elementary than this, yet it is incomprehensible to some people and creates a deep, likely unconscious moral confusion in them. We are currently aiding and abetting a genocide in Yemen. Thousands of civilians dying routinely in Saudi air strikes (using our weapons) as well as people starving on the ground because of a blockade. This is not some phantom from the past. It is unfolding as we speak . More people have died in Yemen than in Ukr