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Monday,Jul 26,2010
Why the Government May Be Wrong on The New ‘Minimum’ Wage
The recent 63.7 percent increase in the national minimum wage, from N11,000 to N17,000 (or is it N18,000?) has gene....
By Jideofor Adibe
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Saturday,Jul 17,2010
Between Octopus Paul And Nigerian Juju Men And Pastors
One of the celebrities thrown up by the just concluded World Cup tournament in South Africa is the German Octopus P....
By Jideofor Adibe
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Sunday,Jul 11,2010
Igboland: When Did Things Really Begin To Fall Apart?
That the level of insecurity in Igboland has reached unacceptable level is no longer news. In virtually all parts o....
By Jideofor Adibe
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Wednesday,Jun 30,2010
Jonathan, Babangida and the Sword of Damocles
In the Sword of Damocles, the Roman politician and philosopher Cicero tells the story of Dionysius II, a king who r....
By Jideofor Adibe
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Wednesday,Jun 30,2010
Letter To “Father No Shaking” On The September 2010 Festival Of Oath-taking In Umuagwu-Aro, Osuh-Owerre, Isi-ala Mbano Local Government Area (LGA), Imo State
Dear Rev. Father, Greetings! I have to address by the above name since it is the name you are commonly kn....
By Odimegwu Onwumere
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Wednesday,Jun 23,2010
Attahiru Jega and the Search for a Nigerian Hero
Nigerians seem to be in constant search for public heroes - competent little messiahs who will not hesitate to put ....
By Jideofor Adibe
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Thursday,Jun 17,2010
The Return of Mallam Ribadu
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the one time strongman of the financial crime buster EFCC, who sneaked out of Nigeria into self....
By Jideofor Adibe
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Thursday,Jun 17,2010
Too Many Captains…
Two major attributes that have been quite easy to discern about President Goodluck Jonathan are: one, he seems to l....
By Ijeoma Nwogwugwu
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Thursday,Jun 10,2010
Should Suspects Be Paraded?
The above question is generating increasing furore among our intellectuals, and ‘beer parlour’ politica....
By Jideofor Adibe
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Thursday,Jun 10,2010
Nigeria: A Two Party System By Legislation?
Perhaps enamoured by the seeming ease with which two dominant political parties trod the political landscape of, at....
By Joel Nwokeoma
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The Hypocrite in All of Us
By:
Jideofor Adibe
pcjadibe@yahoo.com
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We are probably all guilty of this. We constantly project beliefs, opinions, values, feelings, qualities and standards that are at variance with what we practice. Admittedly, what we practice is not necessarily what we will want to practice, making hypocrisy more than inconsistency between what is advocated and what is done. The English author and moralist Samuel Johnson in fact tells us that nothing “is more unjust, however common, than to charge with hypocrisy him that expresses zeal for those virtues which he neglects to practice; since he may be sincerely convinced of the advantages of conquering his passions, without having yet obtained the victory, as a man may be confident of the advantages of a voyage, or a journey, without having courage or industry to undertake it, and may honestly recommend to others, those attempts which he neglects himself.”
It is often said that man is completely sincere only when he is alone, away from the prying eyes of anyone. As the American poet and essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson, adumbrated: “Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.”
If there is a bit of the hypocrite in all of us, then our hypocrisy is often at its highest when discussing public officials, especially politicians, in the context of money and sex. Consider this story:
The New York Times of December 26, 2009, carried a story of Narain Dutt Tiwari, an 86-year Governor of a southern Indian state who was forced to resign after a television news channel broadcast a tape showing him having a tryst with three women. Though Tiwari’s office had denounced the tape as a fabrication, opposition and women’s rights groups held protests in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh’s capital, demanding for his resignation. Tiwari later resigned, citing health reasons.
While our hypocrisy as ordinary citizens can often go undetected and unpunished, sometimes public officials who take a high moral ground to enhance their image and career are not always so lucky. Consider these cases:
On 10 March 2008, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer admitted that he was a customer of a prostitution ring which charged as much as $3,100 to $5,500 an hour. What irked most people was not so much the act of patronising prostitutes as the hypocrisy of it all because Spitzer was known for his moral high grounds. For instance as Attorney General of the state in 2003, he had brought a suit against a company suspected of planning sex tourism trips to Asia. He was then quoted as saying that the “company purports to be a traditional travel agency, but through its actions promotes prostitution and the abuse of young women.” He resigned on March 12, 2008.
Wayne Hayes , an Ohio Democrat, was regarded as one of the biggest bullies in the US Congress in the 1970s, intimidating lawmakers and staff alike as chairman of the House Administration Committee. He had a carefully cultivated image of a moralist and a puritan. Then Elizabeth Ray, a woman he hired to be a secretary and receptionist, confessed to The Washington Post that her real ‘job’ was to provide sexual favours to the congressman. “I can’t type, I can’t file, I can’t even answer the phone,” she said. The scandal forced Mr. Hayes out of Congress. Similarly, it was found that Newt Gingrich, who, as Speaker of the House of Representatives, led the effort to impeach Bill Clinton for lying about sexual dalliances with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, was himself having an affair with a House aide.
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Jimmy Cliff sang a good song on hypocrites
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