Rule Four in Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals manifesto: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”
This rule is all about exploiting the imperfection to be found in any person or ideology. It is also in this rule where hypocrisy really has a chance to shine.
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For example, think about all of the sexual assaults which have taken place at Occupy gatherings around the country. The Left was happy to ignore all of this, but what happens when a Tea Partier is accused of sexual assault? A sexual assault didn’t happen at a Tea Party, and the charges were dropped, but the Left was in a frenzy of glee. The words “Tea Party” were used in headlines as though it was representative of the movement. They Left thought they had found an example of right-wing wrongdoing and, although they turned out to be wrong, they exploited it all they could.
What about Mitt Romney and the now-infamous Seamus-on-the-roof incident? The Left holds this decades-old event up as proof that Mitt Romney is not the kind person he portrays himself to be. But Barack Obama admission of eating a dog is apparently just fine. These are just two examples of the Left exposing their hypocrisy through Alinsky’s Fourth Rule.
So, how do we combat this? We just don’t take it. Like we did with the #ObamaAteADog hashtag, we made it embarrassing for the Left to bring up Seamus. They didn’t want that issue on the table anymore. People of any political affiliation will slip up, but we must not allow the Left to hypocritically exploit it when that mistake is made by a conservative.
The other way to avoid being trapped by this rule? Don’t pretend to be perfect. You’re not, and your imperfections will be exploited as soon as they are discovered.
