Why the Hypocrisy of Strident Moralists Like Roy Moore is so Common

Here's an insightful observation on Alabama senatorial candidate Roy Moore from Matt Bai, Yahoo political reporter. I feel Bai is onto something here, and his insight is not just restricted to conservatives. He also mentions liberal examples of the same kind of moral hypocrisy. To see the whole piece, go to this link.

"Moore’s fans in Alabama — most of whom are good people, I’m sure — are left to wonder, as people always do in these instances, how to reconcile the Moore they knew with the predator they’re reading about now in the papers. How could a man so devoted to public morality have been hitting on teenage girls by signing their yearbooks?

But it’s really not confounding at all. The truth is that moralizing and scandal are flip sides of the same filthy coin. Rigid intolerance is often the sign of one who can barely tolerate himself.

It turns out that all that time Moore was raising hell about morality and religious values, he was exorcising personal demons at the public’s expense. He was posturing as the moral pillar he badly wished he were, in order to somehow repress the weak, wicked man he knew himself to be.

You see this everywhere you look in public life. We know now that too many men, agonized by their own struggle with pedophilia, flock to the priesthood because they think they can redeem themselves. We’ve seen famous preachers come to tears railing against greed and adultery, because on some level they know they’re preaching to the mirror."