Self-Righteousness

"Am I self-righteous? Why not? Its not like I can count on you to be righteous for me".
- Henry Rollins


I read this and it really cracked me up.

Too often I've been accused of being impossible to argue with, and many have therefore turned into a person who doesn't bother to engage in talking with me, but is only interested in telling me what's wrong with myself. Given some time, these people degenerate into telling OTHER people what's wrong with me (often times, hypocritically maintaining the mask of amiability towards me), lamenting how unrepentant I am.

I used to really detest such people. If you can't be bothered to talk it through with me, then don't hide behind the excuse that you can't win the argument. Its just that you can't be bothered... and I can't be bothered with someone who is only interested in telling me which part of myself offends their sensitivities. The ironic and sad thing is that such people themselves end up looking sort of self-righteous too...

(I've now learnt to ignore them. You can't stop dogs from barking.)

Back to the quote: There's at least a tiny grain of truth to be found in what Henry Rollins said... If nothing you've been saying tells me that you're more interested in protecting me and doing what's really good for me, then why shouldn't I stand up for myself? Who in his right mind faces the firing squard and not shy from it?

In MY (self-righteous) opinion, I think there're at least 2 ways of being so pompous. Either you are defensive when others attack you, or else you're the one who puts himself on a higher moral platform and does the judging.

My only defence? I think I spend most of my self-righteousness defending myself, instead of judging others.

Thought of the day - which side of self-righteousness do you fall on?

(P.S. If you find yourself answering "neither", its time to seek counselling.)