Get some perspective, people! Perspective!

I know the New Testament passage singles out “rich men”, but the condemnation is levelled in the context of hypocrites. Jesus scandalises a gathering by saying: “It will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a (hypocrite) to enter the kingdom of God”.

Irrespective of whether he was referring to the eye of a sewing needle commonly used throughout the Roman empire, or the entrance to the city of Jerusalem called the Needle’s Eye — and there are Talmudic references that mean the same, but refer to an elephant instead — the point Jesus was making was that the sin, crime, immoral behaviour, call it what you want of hypocrisy is so vile and so base as to virtually exclude one guilty of it from salvation.

In other words, hypocrisy is not something which you can just say you’re sorry about, promise not to do it again and your slate is clean. Hypocrisy is very, very serious.

Without digressing into a theological or exegetical debate, the issue is that it seems to be getting easier and easier these days to segue into hypocrisy, an ill-defined but morally repugnant bit of rhetorical legerdemain. And then just whoopsy your way out of it. Disloyalty and exceeding the speed limit are far more dire offences.

What utter unmitigated garbage!

Hypocrisy is a universal affront. It isn’t a social gaffe, a little white lie, a politically incorrect slip of the tongue. And yet it is treated like tea at Tiffany’s in societies in moral decrepitude — such as South African society.

Even a cursory glance through history in the last 5 000 years demonstrates without qualification that any proliferation of ethical laissez-faire, of the kind of endemic treading water across virtually every facet of life, of the attitude of “That’s okay” followed by a litany of excuses and alibis is rapidly followed by social collapse.

The only difference has been the extent of the collapse and the veracity and credibility of the written record of that fall.

It is hypocritical of the world to hurl condemnation at Israel over the bloodshed in Gaza. Not because of who hit who first, or who is going to teach who a lesson, or even whether any violence can be justified at all. The hypocrisy lies in the 92-point headlines saying “7 000 Dead in Gaza”, but with barely a peep about the estimated 67 000 men, women and children who have died equally viciously, equally randomly in Africa — the DRC, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Ethiopia — during the same recent period.

Hypocrisy lies in our ruling elite’s vainglorious trumpeting about 5 000 new police officers being deployed this year when we need 50 000. Hypocrisy lies in Nathi Mthethwa’s epiphanal clampdown on the wanton thuggery called “the VIP Protection Unit” when that was spotlighted as a grave crisis three years ago.

My brother lives in the quaint Roodepoort suburb of Little Falls where all the streets are named after famous cataracts in SA. In the eight years he’s lived there the racial demographics have quietly changed, but the affable, villagey ambience has not. People seem to care for and about each other there and it’s nothing for Jan to mow the lawn outside Jabu’s house on weekends — not as a favour, but because … ag, why the hell not? Tolerance lives in Little Falls.

In the past four years the only time I have ever seen a police car in the area was when my boet had a party and the guests included a husband-and-wife team of senior officers who, being on 24-hour call-out, were allowed the use of official vehicles.

The presence of cop cars in the driveway lent a bucolic tranquility for the duration of their braai. Only one of them is a cop now. The other had to change career so the family could have an acceptable standard of living.

Yesterday my brother’s house was burgled, for the fourth time, in broad daylight!

When I phoned the Honeydew police I was told: “Ah yes, there is a problem there with house robberies.” My God, woman, there’s been a problem there for four bloody years! Why isn’t the place crawling with what you call “visible policing”?

That kind of devil-may-care lassitude is born of the increasing passing of the buck to block watches, community forums and the gigantic home security industry, which is, I’m sure, as straight as the Outeniqua Pass. Nothing like a few “house robberies” to create a market for your R15 000 armed-response service, now is there?

The more government abdicates its responsibilities in security, education, transport, energy supply, telecommunications to its much-vaunted “private-sector partners” in whatever form they come, the less it behooves the kakistocrats in the VIP-protected black death mobiles to get off their gargantuan bums and do their jobs.

Zuma’s election ads and posters, already appearing everywhere in those garishly ugly ANC colours, trumpet this weekend’s manifesto unveiling which will build on “15 years of freedom”. That is blatant hypocrisy because it would equate freedom with a better life – and we are billions of miles from that!

And worse. Zuma, Mantashe, Motlanthe, Niehaus, Mashatile and the rest of the circus performers KNOW so. That’s why they doggedly refuse to publicly debate the real nuts-and-bolts, pap-en-wors issues in open forum. Who would risk such a crushing blow when you can hide your hypocrisy behind slogans, public address systems, huge banners, rigid agendas and, of course, much eating, drinking, dancing, ululating and general merriment.

When Nero’s empire was in freefall and corruption was the kind of party game it is in SA today, any kind of criticism was silenced quite effectively by yet another extravaganza at the Circus Maximus. Nothing like three days of gladiatorial bloodshed and tossing Christians, or anybody else for that matter, to the lions to take the minds of the masses off the implosion of Rome.

Yesterday our fearless leader — “for Kgalema is an honourable man” — predicted the ANC “will defeat Cope” in the elections. Wow, a news flash! Of course, it will — the honourable sheeple in the boondocks will ensure that. The question though is will the ANC cope this time around after 15 years of flaccid failure.

And hypocrisy has been like hay fever in a pollen field — it becomes so vicious, so violent, so virulent and uncontrolled that it leaps around devouring everything in sight like a Californian wildfire on steroids.

Hypocrisy riddles our banking system, permeates our advertising industry, has free rein in our news media, is extolled in the automotive business, is the real estate industry’s holy scripture and often the very lifeblood of the legal profession. If it’s good enough for Gwede, it’s good enough for us.

And the only thing that stands in its way is the narrow needle’s eye of perspective, vigilance and of constant, unwavering holding authority (all authority) to account. As far as I’m concerned — name and shame the lot of them.