--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Each side, hypocritical enough to pretend…" description: "\"“Each side, hypocritical enough to pretend that it lives up to its own hype, is equally insistent that the other side’s worst is truly all that it is. ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8d/os-guinness-6581_hypocritical_each-side-hypocritical-enough-to-pretend_2733530.png" --- # Each side, hypocritical enough to pretend that it lives up… ![“Each side, hypocritical enough to pretend that it lives up to its own hype, is equally insistent that the other side’s worst is truly all that it is. American political advertising is sinking slowly toward a level worthy of Soviet propaganda.” quote by Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8d/os-guinness-6581_hypocritical_each-side-hypocritical-enough-to-pretend_2733530.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8d/os-guinness-6581_hypocritical_each-side-hypocritical-enough-to-pretend_2733530.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8d/os-guinness-6581_hypocritical_each-side-hypocritical-enough-to-pretend_2733530.png) > ““Each side, hypocritical enough to pretend that it lives up to its own hype, is equally insistent that the other side’s worst is truly all that it is. American political advertising is sinking slowly toward a level worthy of Soviet propaganda.”” [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote criticizes both political sides for hypocrisy, claiming that American political advertising is descending to the level of Soviet propaganda. **In simple terms:** Both sides are hypocritical; ads are propaganda-like. Key Takeaway Demand higher political discourse. Themes politics media advertising hypocrisy propaganda Mood critical concerned Type political media When to use this quote - campaign strategy - media analysis - civic education - public relations Key Concepts democratic decay media ethics public persuasion Questions to Reflect On - How can voters recognize propaganda? - What reforms improve political ads? A Different Perspective Changing media habits may be hard. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Propaganda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/propaganda/) ## Related quotes > [Sometimes, it doesn't bother that they don't like, what bothers us is that they are hypocritical and PRETEND to like us..!! isn't..??](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/sometimes-it-doesn-t-bother-that-they-don-t-like-what-bothers-us-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I don't like people who are hypocritical, who pretend to be nice, particularly in show business when they're nice on camera, and then off…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-cowell/i-don-t-like-people-who-are-hypocritical-who-pretend-to-be-nice/) [Simon Cowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-cowell/) > [It doesn't bother me that you don't like me, what bothers me is that you are hypocritical and PRETEND to like me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikhil-saluja/it-doesn-t-bother-me-that-you-don-t-like-me-what-bothers-me-is-that/) [Nikhil Saluja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikhil-saluja/) > [Thus far, both political parties have been remarkably clever and effective in concealing this new reality. In fact, the two parties have formed an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ferguson/thus-far-both-political-parties-have-been-remarkably-clever-and/) [Charles Ferguson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ferguson/) > [Facebook deploys a political advertising sales team, specialized by political party and charged with convincing deep-pocketed politicians that they do have the kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-garcia-martinez/facebook-deploys-a-political-advertising-sales-team-specialized-by/) [Antonio Garcia Martinez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-garcia-martinez/) > [Political advertising ought to be stopped. It's the only really dishonest kind of advertising that's left. It's totally dishonest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ogilvy/political-advertising-ought-to-be-stopped-it-s-the-only-really/) [David Ogilvy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ogilvy/) > [The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-gephardt/the-department-of-education-should-not-be-producing-paid-political/) [Dick Gephardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-gephardt/) > [As I look back at the span of the Cold War in those early days, in the '50s, for example, there was a great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-haig/as-i-look-back-at-the-span-of-the-cold-war-in-those-early-days-in-the/) [Alexander Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-haig/) > [Soviet propaganda is remarkably effective and the Americans are even more remarkably stupid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-reza-pahlavi/soviet-propaganda-is-remarkably-effective-and-the-americans-are-even/) [Mohammed Reza Pahlavi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-reza-pahlavi/) > [It is absurd for anyone to think that Soviet "Marxism" is a correct application of the thought of Karl Marx. No doubt Soviet propaganda…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/it-is-absurd-for-anyone-to-think-that-soviet-marxism-is-a-correct/) [Allen W. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-w-wood/) > [The Soviet system of propaganda and censorship existed not so much for the purpose of spreading a particular message as for the purpose of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/the-soviet-system-of-propaganda-and-censorship-existed-not-so-much/) [Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/) > [Textbooks are Soviet propaganda.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-falwell/textbooks-are-soviet-propaganda/) [Jerry Falwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-falwell/) > [In Northern Estonia, the Soviet authorities didn't have a recipe on how to fight against the popularity of Finnish TV. Audiences didn't want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaak-kilmi/in-northern-estonia-the-soviet-authorities-didn-t-have-a-recipe-on/) [Jaak Kilmi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaak-kilmi/) > [“There is no one as hypocritical as a man who massacred a tree in one place and cooled in the shadow of a tree…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/there-is-no-one-as-hypocritical-as-a-man-who-massacred-a-tree-in-one/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [When we look at the love of Christ, we make a wonderful discovery. Love is more a decision than an emotion! Christ-like love applauds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-lucado/when-we-look-at-the-love-of-christ-we-make-a-wonderful-discovery-love/) [Max Lucado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-lucado/) ## More by Os Guinness > [Too often we forget that the great men of faith reached the heights they did only by going through the depths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/too-often-we-forget-that-the-great-men-of-faith-reached-the-heights/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [There are lots of people depending on the government who are good, honest citizens who have worked all their lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/there-are-lots-of-people-depending-on-the-government-who-are-good/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [American views today are weak, confused, and divided. On one side, many progressive liberals still think that we humans are essentially good and getting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/american-views-today-are-weak-confused-and-divided-on-one-side-many/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [What is undeniable is that when comforts and convenience sap our energies and idealism, inactivity secretes sloth in to our minds like a poison…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/what-is-undeniable-is-that-when-comforts-and-convenience-sap-our/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [Freedom is not the permission to do what you like. It's the power to do what you ought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/freedom-is-not-the-permission-to-do-what-you-like-it-s-the-power-to/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [“It is realistic rather than cynical to observe that in a fallen world there are degrees of virtue in relation to what is right,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/it-is-realistic-rather-than-cynical-to-observe-that-in-a-fallen-world/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [For the grand and inescapable tradition of western literary classics confronts us with fundamental choices over our understanding of words, reading and art, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/for-the-grand-and-inescapable-tradition-of-western-literary-classics/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [“The story is told of Socrates walking through the market in Athens, with its groaning abundance of options, and saying to himself, "Who would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/the-story-is-told-of-socrates-walking-through-the-market-in-athens/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [By our uncritical pursuit of relevance we have actually courted irrelevance; by our breathless chase after relevance without a matching committment to faithfulness, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/by-our-uncritical-pursuit-of-relevance-we-have-actually-courted/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [Evangelicalism can only remain evangelical if it is passionately serious about truth and theology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/evangelicalism-can-only-remain-evangelical-if-it-is-passionately/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [“Sometimes when I listen to people who say they have lost their faith, I am far less surprised than they expect. If their view…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/sometimes-when-i-listen-to-people-who-say-they-have-lost-their-faith/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [“Neither secular progress nor secular progressives have brought the West where they once promised. Nor can they.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/neither-secular-progress-nor-secular-progressives-have-brought-the/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [This is also why it is wrong to treat God as a grand employment agency, a celestial executive searcher to find perfect fits for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/this-is-also-why-it-is-wrong-to-treat-god-as-a-grand-employment/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [We human beings are never happier than when we are expressing the deepest gifts that are truly us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/we-human-beings-are-never-happier-than-when-we-are-expressing-the/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [Christ is the only way to God, but there are as many ways to Christ as there are people who come to Him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/christ-is-the-only-way-to-god-but-there-are-as-many-ways-to-christ-as/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) [Explore all 98 Os Guinness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) ## More Hypocritical quotes > [When we look at the love of Christ, we make a wonderful discovery. Love is more a decision than an emotion! Christ-like love applauds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-lucado/when-we-look-at-the-love-of-christ-we-make-a-wonderful-discovery-love/) [Max Lucado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-lucado/) > [“There is no one as hypocritical as a man who massacred a tree in one place and cooled in the shadow of a tree…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/there-is-no-one-as-hypocritical-as-a-man-who-massacred-a-tree-in-one/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Speaking generally, men are ungrateful, fickle, hypocritical, fearful odanger and covetous ogain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niccolo-machiavelli/speaking-generally-men-are-ungrateful-fickle-hypocritical-fearful/) [Niccolo Machiavelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niccolo-machiavelli/) > [The world, and the great and free United States in particular, is full of narrow-minded, ignorant, moronic, bigoted, cowardly, self-righteous, anemic, pig-headed, stupid, puritanical,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-atherton/the-world-and-the-great-and-free-united-states-in-particular-is-full/) [Gertrude Atherton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-atherton/) > [Charlotte slammed the paper down onto her desk with an exclamation of rage. “Aloysius Starkweather is the most stubborn, hypocritical, obstinate, degenerate—” She broke…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/charlotte-slammed-the-paper-down-onto-her-desk-with-an-exclamation-of/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [If we have no zeal for the glory of God our mercy must be superficial, man-centred human improvement with no eternal significance. And if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-piper/if-we-have-no-zeal-for-the-glory-of-god-our-mercy-must-be-superficial/) [John Piper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-piper/) > [Early in life, I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance and have seen no occasion to change](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-lloyd-wright/early-in-life-i-had-to-choose-between-honest-arrogance-and/) [Frank Lloyd Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-lloyd-wright/) > [People might think I am hypocritical because clearly my batting gave me an opportunity, certainly in the one-day team. I still always placed most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-gilchrist/people-might-think-i-am-hypocritical-because-clearly-my-batting-gave/) [Adam Gilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-gilchrist/) > [I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hatethe corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial, and hypocritical Christianity of this land.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-love-the-pure-peaceable-and-impartial-christianity-of-christ-i/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [Purity of action guided Janis's behavior. If she was going to be good, she was very, very good. If she was going to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-joplin/purity-of-action-guided-janis-s-behavior-if-she-was-going-to-be-good/) [Laura Joplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-joplin/) > [I have no faith in our hypocritical, false, hysterical, uneducated and lazy intelligentsia when they suffer and complain: their oppression comes from within. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/i-have-no-faith-in-our-hypocritical-false-hysterical-uneducated-and/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [“Those who claim to be closest to God are furthest from Heaven.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/navonne-johns/those-who-claim-to-be-closest-to-god-are-furthest-from-heaven/) Navonne Johns > [A man working for wages his whole life is not really free. That is why Jefferson said, you have to own land. Southerners said,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-foner/a-man-working-for-wages-his-whole-life-is-not-really-free-that-is-why/) [Eric Foner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-foner/) > [“We preach FREEDOM, not silenced slavery. Stop being a hypocritical element. Do to others what you can accept yourself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olawale-daniel/we-preach-freedom-not-silenced-slavery-stop-being-a-hypocritical/) [Olawale Daniel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olawale-daniel/) > [Millions of men give all their energies, as well as their very souls, for the acquisition of gold. And this will continue as long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/millions-of-men-give-all-their-energies-as-well-as-their-very-souls/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) Browse all 235 Hypocritical quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Each side, hypocritical enough to pretend that it lives up to its own hype, is equally insistent that the other side’s worst is truly all that it is. 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