Issue Update: The hypocrisy and sense of invisibility that comes from power
Proving the Theorem: Politician Equals Hypocrite
It’s long been noted that power corrupts, but it also makes people hypocrites, too.
By: Emily Badger | January 6, 2010
http://miller-mccune.com/idea/proving-the-theorem-politician-hypocrite-1719
It just so happens that a handful of politicians were publicly making Adam Galinsky’s point as he and two social psychology colleagues were studying the interplay of power and moral hypocrisy. Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was caught with a prostitute after pursuing the very same crime as a prosecutor himself. Nevada Sen. John Ensign was caught in an affair violating the very family values he preached.
And South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford was snared in the ultimate irony — committing the same sin he had decried in Bill Clinton (not to mention misusing state resources in the process when he wouldn’t take stimulus funds for his state).
Each of these stories — along with bailed-out car execs traveling by private plane or Wall Street bankers begging aid for themselves but not their customers — reinforce our most frequent gripe against the powerful: They’re hypocrites.
At least now we can take comfort in knowing this is more than just political kvetching. It’s scientifically true.
