What I do in Private

… is my own business.  In a sense, this is true, much of the time.  But not in the way it is normally appealed to.  The idea that private behaviour has no impact on public behaviour is ridiculous; we can’t be two-faced with impunity. 

Our private morality will determine our public morality, as surely as the sun rises in the east.  The asinine thought that one doesn’t affect the other is the preference of someone who wishes to get away with, in private, something they’d not easily get away with, in public; something they would be ashamed of were they caught, something their peers, at least publicly, would express disapproval of.   And doesn’t all this point to, morality matters – even if we insist it of others and not ourselves.  

So, why would any of us accept that a man or woman who cheats on their spouse won’t do so on the public they serve, the company they work with.  If they cheat privately, they will cheat publicly – they can’t but, as their behaviour isn’t able to have a split personality, not for too long.  

They may not get caught publicly, although most do, but they have already set the tone of their behaviour - because of what is done in private.   

People like this should not be in public power as they are not trustworthy privately – why then publicly?  But we insist ‘so many live like this, and in some cultures, it is acceptable?’  Who to?  Their spouses and children?  I think not.  In fact, it is these cultures that are often the most corrupt in the halls of power.  

Hypocrisy is human (none of us exempt), but it isn’t inevitable unless we think it is.  

Does it not strike us as odd to believe that what we do in private is no-one else’s business, when that is exactly what it becomes.  A judge who indulges in private immorality will not be able to uphold law in a court with a clean conscience.  Don’t underestimate your conscience.  A policeman that accepts bribes (privately – it is always privately) is no longer a trustworthy custodian of the law.  A person who cheats on their husband or wife is a cheater. Their private behaviour will infect their public office.  Someone who misinforms the tax department will be skimming elsewhere.  

We have seen enough to not accept the idea that private and public don’t mix and don’t affect each other.  

Then why do we swallow this nonsense?  Maybe because it has been said so often it becomes truth to us?  Maybe it is because we can’t expect anyone to be without fault?  Maybe because it exonerates us from something we expect of others.  Or it could be because it gives us the right to do what we want and get away with it, because, after all, it is no one else’s business.  That is, of course, until it is.