Most Hypocritical Things People are Doing or Saying Related to the 2020 Protests

The 2020 protests have brought out an outpouring of emotion from all sides, and with emotion comes a lack of critical thinking and general idiocy. Mob mentality and self-reinforcing information silos have caused people to do and say a lot of things that if they'd just step back and take a critical and more objective look at the world around them, they'd see are quite stupid and counterproductive.

We've become firmly entrenched in a mindset of us and them. It's a classic example of what social psychologist Lee Ross termed the fundamental attribution error. One's own perspective is always just and reasonable based on the current circumstances while the other side's actions are the result of ignorance, close-mindedness, and callous disregard. Furthermore, what has always been a world where justice and morality are best expressed in shades of grey is being increasingly viewed only as if each issue is completely black and white,... and partisan. Even something as apolitical as the the efficacy of wearing a mask in public is debated along party lines. Consequently, we live in a world of increasing hypocrisy and whataboutism. A world where our actions are just and sane while their actions are inequitable and insane even when the actions themselves are the same.

This hypocrisy has become so very obvious during the 2020 protests. The disconnect between actions and rhetoric is profound. Politicians and citizens alike say one thing and do another. The expectations placed on others bear little resemblance to the expectations placed on oneself. People demand respect while giving little in return. People demand their rights be upheld while working to suppress the rights of others. Authorities and leaders preach a doctrine of do what I say and not what I do.

This is not to say the current protest and movements in the world are not justified and important. There is little doubt that our society has room for improvement. Peaceful protests, and some less peaceful protests, have a proven record of promoting change. At what point the ends justify the means is subjective, but the right to assembly and to protest are encoded in numerous domestic and international constitutions and treaties because of its necessity in facilitating progress. Many things we take for granted today came about as a result of protests from women's suffrage, to racial equality acts, to the rights of employees.

That said, these movements and the players involved work to undermine themselves when they become the thing they are protesting against. That is why it is important to point out these contradictions and hypocrisies for what they are. This list serves to illuminate the most boneheaded things people are doing and saying during this time of anger and strife, but also of hopefulness and unity. Below are the biggest examples of hypocrisy surrounding the international 2020 protests focused on George Floyd's murder, the Black Lives Matter movement, police brutality, and general racial tension and injustices.
The Top Ten
1 Vilifying all police officers instead of only the bad apples because of their perceived bias against all people of a certain race
2 Claiming kneeling during the anthem is an affront to the nation and its military while honoring Confederate "heroes" who literally waged war against the U.S. armed forces

Again, "stereotype", not all kneel critics are from Alabama.

3 Destroying police property while protesting an overly aggressive police force

This only makes the police to call them even more of a terrorist organization.

4 Participating in mass protests mere weeks after chastising those protesting coronavirus related stay at home orders
5 Chastising protesters for violating curfews mere weeks after protesting against coronavirus related stay at home orders

Ahh yes, I remember two years ago. Can't celebrate our country's independence, but rioting is fine...

6 BLM protesters destroying a statue of Col. Hans Christian Heg, an abolitionist who died while fighting on the Union side in the Civil War

In fact, even the town was disappointed that the statue was destroyed.

7 Trump repeatedly threatening violence against U.S. protesters after telling President Xi of China to meet with Hong Kong’s protesters to bring about a "happy and enlightened ending to the Hong Kong problem"

I guess the Orange Man and Winnie The Pooh meet again.

8 Claiming equivalency between memorials like the Auschwitz Museum and statutes celebrating the deeds of Confederate leaders and slave traders

Well, a confederate/civil war museums do exist.

9 Trump threatening to use the military against citizens invoking their First Amendment right to peaceably assemble after berating officials for violating church-goers rights by locking down churches
10 Labeling Antifa a "terrorist organization" while ignoring the Boogaloo movement responsible for the murder of police and security officers, and whose members endorse violently overthrowing the United States government

Antifa is not a terrorist organization the national rifle association is a terrorist organization

The Contenders
11 Chastising Black Lives Matter protesters, yet ignoring racist protesters doing literal Nazi salutes at the Cenotaph

Except the Nazi protesters do slightly less damage. KEYWORD: Slightly. Before you call me anti-semetic.

12 BLM protesters demanding the removal of a statue of Abraham Lincoln
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