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Bias or Hypocrisy

Dennis Boyles thinks it is the latter. Here is a section from an article he did for the online version of the National Review (NRO).

"...The problem at the Times isn’t bias, which is always acceptable. It’s hypocrisy. The Times claims to represent a set of journalistic ideals. But their daily practices show a blatant, if situational disregard for the standards of their profession..."

The background is pretty complicated. The New York Times did an article about Senator (and presumptive Republican Presidential nominee) John McCain. The article (which is about 3000 words long and I haven't read it), mentions a series of events in 1999 in which McCain was in the company of a lobbyist for the TV company Univision. The lobbyist is much younger than McCain and, at least in 1999, was very pretty (and bears some resemblance to Mrs McCain). The ombudsman (Clark Hoyt) for the NY Times considered the article to be unfairly implicating McCain in a romantic affair. The ombudsman stated in a front page critique (also published in the NY Times) that the article should not have been published because it was inadequately sourced, that is, there was no evidence whatsoever of a romantic relationship. Mr. Boyle thinks the problem isn't a journalistic mistake but that the deliberate agenda of the NY Times is to hurt conservatives and republicans and promote liberals and democrats and furthermore than the ombudsman knows this, or should know it. Now if Mr. Boyle does think that the NY Times ombudsman is biased against Republicans and is trying to pretend that this bias does not exist, that would be hypocrisy. However, Boyle has no way to see into Mr. Hoyt's mind. Thus, I think the NRO should have adopted an "assuming..." point. The NRO did give some evidence that the NY Times is biased, namely that a previous ombudsman said that it was a liberal paper. However, this does not demonstrate very much about Mr. Hoyt. Charge unproved. Here is the URL for Boyle's article:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTRhYTlhYTAxNWJjMjZiNTZjNzNiMDQzZjFmOTAxNWE=

and as a follow up, a robopoll (the Rasmussen company uses computers to call and take input) shows, "...By a 50% to 18% margin, liberal voters have a favorable opinion of the paper. By a 69% to 9%, conservative voters offer an unfavorable view. The newspaper earns favorable reviews from 44% of Democrats, 9% of Republicans, and 17% of those not affiliated with either major political story...."

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/24_have_favorable_opinion_of_new_york_times

Jailbird Wants to Pray - Hypocrisy is the charge

A blogger in Baltimore, who is also attending law school as well as blogging and trying to be a practicing orthodox Jew, has posted an entry accusing either an individual or possibly a group of people as hypocrites. The only case he cites is that of an orthodox Jew convicted of major fraud who is suing the State Corrections Department for refusing to accommodate his request for an appropriate place to pray. The convict apparently maintains that he is unable to pray from his cell because there is a toilet in it rendering the location unsuitable for Jewish prayer under Jewish religious law. The poster does not dispute the fact that the understanding of the convict regarding Jewish law is correct. Instead he mocks the request of the convict with an accusation of hypocrisy.

Here is his accusation of hypocrisy:

"...I fail to understand how these people can be so Machmir in all aspects of life, but when it comes to money, they feel that they can do whatever they please. TAXES?! Who pays taxes? To a Goyishe government!? The hypocrisy in which these people live their lives is astonishing.

I would like to believe that Hashem doesn't as readily accept the prayers of people who live their lives seeped in such hypocrisy as he does mine and yours...."

This hypocrisy accusation, like so many others, doesn't specify exactly what actions (or statements) are associated with hypocrisy. Even worse, in this case, the charge of hypocrisy seems to be made against an undefined group ("these people") .

If I were being generous, I would guess that the accuser meant to say that people who adopt a highly public 'holier than thou' persona are hypocrites when they commit highly public, egregious and substantial crimes. If this is the case, it would be a case of hypocrisy but only to the annoying or minimally dangerous level (as I defined those levels back on August 31, 2003).

However, if I were being less generous, I would have to say this is an example of poor thinking. A reasonable way of interpreting the accusation is to think the accuser meant that persons who wish to be rigorously correct in their ritual practice must be completely law abiding in their civic affairs. Now, here is the problem. I doubt that anyone, other than perhaps babies and nursing home patients is completely law abiding. I estimate that more than 99% of everyone who drives disobeys the 'come to a complete stop at a stop sign' rule. I estimate a similar percentage of people who regularly go for a walk, violate the litter law at some time. Similarly huge percentages of people use a pen from the office at home, etc. Would such civil crimes merit the charge of hypocrisy if they were performed by persons who were otherwise rigorously correct in their ritual practice. I'm betting the accuser would not make the hypocrisy charge in this case.

Perhaps the thought of someone else being a hypocrite is so strong that it turns the brain of otherwise clear thinking persons into mush.

The blog of the Baltimore law student is:
http://alanlaz.blogspot.com/

The Baltimore law student's post for Feb 18, 2008 refers to an article two days earlier in the New York Times. This article is at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/us/16prison.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=todayspaper&adxnnlx=1203337704-hUa5prXK2zW6M82ORqRa3A&oref=slogin