Among the worst people I have had the misfortune of meeting, working with and being related to are those that say one thing and actually do something else. They talk about how they should be shown respect and yet they treat you with disrespect. They talk about how everything has to be totally transparent and yet they do things behind your back and surreptitiously. They talk about what is right and fair and yet they put their interests ahead of everyone else. They talk about consensus building and yet they want to impose their will on everyone else. They talk about following rules and regulations and yet these do not apply to them!
I am amazed at how these people with a double standard are able to live with themselves. Over the years, I have been able to analyze them and here is what I observed. They are self-righteous, they will demonize you, they will come up with their own justification and in the worst cases, they have lost touch with reality and their conscience and become delusional in thinking what they are doing is right.
People with double standards have convinced themselves or need to convince others of their conviction and position and therefore become self-righteous. They talk with an air of moral superiority and self-sacrifice. However, upon closer scrutiny they will definitely not pass the test of good ethical standards. To further establish and widen the gap in their moral ascendancy, these people will have to demonize you and try their best to make you look like the bad person. They will create or cite a vague issue and make it their rallying point to “prove” that you are the devil incarnate.
These unethical people will come up with all sorts of justification for their questionable actions. Typically they will justify their actions in the interest of the greater good, they were simply following the desire and wishes of someone, they took it upon themselves to decide what is best and they thought something was fair, which means it was to their benefit and advantage. You will also come across people who have been telling themselves these lies for so long that they actually start believing in it. They create their own reality based on half-truths, wrong beliefs and having no conscience. Once this situation sets in, there is no turning back and you either have to stand your ground to protect what is good and right or you lose.
How then do you defend yourself from this type of individual? This can be done by exposing the Truth, subjecting them to the test of Time and taking them to Trial. Exposing the truth means getting witnesses, digging up documents and records to expose wrongdoing. The test of time is when the results will bear the bitter fruit of unethical behavior. As a last resort to achieve justice, taking these people to court may be necessary in the interest of protecting what is right and ethical.
In the 1700s, Edmund Burke a member of parliament in the House of Commons of Great Britain once said “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Enough is enough, it is about time that we stand up, speak up and do something against the triumph of evil or at the very least take them to court…
(The views and comments of the author are his own and not of the newspaper or FINEX. He was 2016 FINEX President, an entrepreneur and also a professorial lecturer at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Comments may be sent to [email protected])