Economics of Hypocrisy

Much of world's economic conflicts did not happen due to conflicting political ideologies. Despite their apparent differences, deep down they were all the same. It was never about Capitalists or Socialists but about a divide that exists within each and every one of us.

We all want to help each other but look first for ourselves. Everyone should have enough to eat but rarely we think about the 16000 kids dying everyday from malnutrition. A $200 donation could improve greatly one's life, but we rather get that laptop memory upgrade instead. We all want to be treated equally but will do everything in our power to gain favoritism.

Evolution has safeguarded our species for in-group volatility. If a group becomes too equal, everything collapses because value is rendered meaningless. If inequality takes a similar fate follows. Human nature is the sum of all these perplexing and often conflicting states between the self and our groups. We can rarely distinguish one from the other because they are part of the same thing.

Group thinking fuels hypocrisy. Individuality goes out of the window when the group's interests are involved. Not only we don't get to self reflect on our our values but we tend to adopt to whatever idea is promoted. This is one of the reasons we see people in masks looting stores and then act perfectly normal in another social situation. Part of our hypocrisy is the ability we have to gain multiple personalities.

We are hypocrites because much like the markets, we have to adjust our value based on how everything moves around us. If there is injustice, we rush to balance things out. If we are living in good times, we might find ourselves abusing power.

If a coin drops value is because of some event or in relation to another coin's state. Same applies with humans. If someone is behaving in a certain way is due to factors that affect a specific behavior. We are not hypocrites by choice but rather as an aftermath of behavioral supply and demand.

Someone who is hungry will do anything really to get to some food. If someone is in great danger the self sacrificing mechanism takes over. One could save an old lady from a burning building and then steal from his best friend. This is who were are. We are neither good or bad but rather a cocktail of different states of being.

It is rare to examine each other objectively. This explains why almost everybody thinks highly of themselves, only blaming their bad character to unforeseen situations.

There is no hopeful ending for our humanity. We are who we are. Perhaps if we invest more in self-reflecting we can understand each other better. After all, our biggest battle, is against ourselves.