Is it just me, or is everyone a hypocrite?

With the leakage of Panama Papers and the rise of Bernie Sander’s message, there is immense discussion amongst young adults about the rich people not paying their due share of taxes. The discussion has got to the point of hatred and condemnation of the super-rich and their practices.

When I looked into it, I said, hey, that’s true: they should be paying their fair share of taxes and I am very mad at them that they don’t. I, like many others, started criticizing the rich for breaking the law. However, after some introspection, I realized there are other ways to look at the situation.

Many teenagers and young adults indulge in underage drinking. They might even get fake identification and go to great extents to procure alcohol. Their defense of this behavior is that many people they know are doing it, so it’s okay to break the law. Some 21+ college students even deliver alcohol to other under-21 students for just a few dollars, even when they clearly breaking the law by doing so.

Why does it suddenly become “wrong” to break the law only when the so-called rich are doing it? After all, their defense is also that all their friends are doing it.

Now if, at 21, a person can break the law and deliver alcohol to minors for just a few dollars (we’ll say $5): Please, please don’t tell me that the same person won’t break the law at 41 for $5 billion dollars. He or she most likely would. The person, who can do it for little money, will surely do it for a lot of money, if given a chance.

Why is it that it is okay for us to break the law, but not okay for the rich to break the law? Why are we criticizing them, but not ourselves? I think, when we judge and condemn people for doing certain things, we should stop and look if we are doing the same things or not. Many times, we are.

I am not arguing that it is right for the rich to not pay the required amount of taxes. What I’m arguing is that it is wrong for people to condemn them and in turn think of themselves as very good even when it is pretty clear that we would act in similar ways.

I ask: are we really responsible citizens because we ask for the people at the top to change?

I think we are just hypocrites. If we talk about what’s right and wrong, we should not have double standards for it. It’s very easy to criticize others – but harder to change ourselves.