Editorial: Hypocrisy Hurts Political Messages

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“Do what I say, not what I do” is one of the best ways for governments to undermine their message. So one of the worst ways.

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When politicians and government officials tell us to do something and stop us from doing it ourselves, the public sees it as hypocrisy and is less likely to do what is asked of them.

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An indoor social gathering attended by a large number of people not wearing masks in Toronto days after Ontario’s chief medical officer, Dr. Kieran Moore, “strongly recommended” the use of masks in such situations. That was the case when I showed up at the event without a mask on.

Moore warned that hospitals were under siege as patients fell ill because three viruses were circulating in the population at the same time. These are respiratory syncytial virus, seasonal flu, and COVID-19, which can cause serious illness in children.

Earlier, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was criticized for not wearing a mask in parliament following Moore’s announcement.

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Incidents like this frustrate people on both sides of the masked argument for the same reason — look at the celebrities who tell you to do something instead of yourself.

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Moore said he didn’t impose a mask mandate on Ontarians, but that could be the case if the infection continues to spread, but he said he’d be more concerned when making personal decisions about masking in public. said his office monitors his health on a daily basis.

This also has an element of “gotcha” politics, where partisans post photos on social media of politicians and celebrities associated with opposing parties who do not follow masking recommendations.

When it gets out of hand, it starts to sound like McCarthyism.

But the problem remains that when politicians and civil servants impose rules on ordinary citizens or advise them on issues they don’t follow, they undermine their own message.

The same thing happened when politicians of all kinds went on foreign vacations during the pandemic, while governments advised people not to engage in unnecessary travel.

Or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other liberal politicians persuading Canadians to reduce their carbon footprint while doing little to reduce their own.

“Rules for you, rules not for me” is a bad way to get the masses to do something.