The Fine Line Between Hypocrisy and Personal Truth Keeps Shifting, May 2, 2014

A baseball player represents quintessential Americana

Identifies as a hero earning a seven-figure income

Speaks of queers with AIDS, men of color in jail, foreigners

Keeps secrets

Pleads color-blindness as black folk have slept at this house.

A Southern Baptist sings “Glory, glory, Hallelujah!”

Interprets Bible verses for the lost

Stands in viewing booths, dick through hole

Keeps secrets

Proselytizes against the alleged sin of homosexuality.

A legislator votes for environmental protections

Shakes hands in the Green Room under the Gold Dome

Votes in favor of allowing guns everywhere

Keeps secrets

Instructs voters that what we need is a New Deal.

A military leader sends troops to fight for freedom

Consoles families over lost limbs, lost sons, and lost minds

Protects oil reserves, hires contractors from Halliburton

Keeps secrets

Commands soldiers to respect superiors, salute.

A patriot flies his flag, supports unjustified wars

Recites the 1954 words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance

Walk past the homeless vet in a wheelchair begging for money

Keeps secrets

Declares that real Americans don't rely on handouts.

A public school teacher molds young minds

Works long hours for little pay

Goes to court for lying about changing answers on exams

Keeps secrets

Teaches pupils that honesty is a mark of good character.

An addict attends twelve-step meetings

Listens to experience, strength and hope

Laughs over a drink at Happy Hour

Keeps secrets

Teaches a newcomer not to do as he says, but as he does.

A thinker believes in science, logic and reason 

Rejects religious doctrine

Criticizes and rants on facebook

Keeps secrets

Redefines free thought as his thought.

A revolutionary sheds light in dark corners

Challenges cultural norms, endures condemnation

Deconstructs minds, cult-like

Keeps secrets

Transforms a man who does not know himself into a monster and then into a man