Being Consistent,Being Human

CONSISTENCY IS WHAT we expect from other people, but not from ourselves. It is a perception only, a way of making the world a bit more comprehensible. and when others fail to meet our expectations of consistency, we react with disdain. Those aomng us who are perceived as inconsistent are either stupid, or poorly educated, or just dead wrong.

I try to be on the look out for this in myself; i remind myself that anyone who fails to meet my expections of consistent behavior or beliefs is not necessarily wrong, or stupid. My current test consists of united states congresspeople who, on the one hand, oppose all legislation to strengthen gun control laws on the basis that such measures intrude on constitutional rights, and simultaneously favor government surveillance of the american people as a necessary deterrent to terrorism.

I just don't get it.

Why would anyone who believes that all gun control is an invasion of civil rights not believe that governemnt surveillance of telephone and internet communication is also an invasion of civil rights? How do they figure this?

I suppose I would be happier if those who oppose gun control also opposed electronic surveillence, or conversely, if those who favor gun control accepted electronic surveillance is a necessary evil? Or even if a person opposed surveillance but favored gun control, on the grounds that guns are much more potentially and immediately harmful than telephone talk or email letter writing.

So i I fall victim to human nature, like everyone else. I establish what i consider to be consistency in thought and action, and manifest disdain for anyone else who fails to meet my standards. I myself being in favor of what I think to be "reasonable" expanded gun control, but entirely opposed to spying on american citizens. I , who am inconsistent, expect others to adhere to my definition of consistency. Well, at least, its nice to know that I am, after all, human.