Submitted by Marvin Miller

The phrase “double standard” is used to describe having different ethical attitudes toward similar kinds of activity depending on who does the activity.

The phrase is often used with reference to extramarital sexual activity by men and by women. Our language has many words for women who do this, which carry connotations of condemnation and contempt. There are fewer such words for men, with connotations that are less harsh and may include a little envy and admiration. If Hillary Clinton had the same history of well-known extramarital affairs that her husband has, she couldn’t even consider running for president, while if Bill Clinton weren’t prevented by the Constitution from doing so, he could run and probably win.

There are other kinds of double standards. If a government official uses his position to enrich himself at the expense of the public, it’s called corruption. If a business executive uses his position to enrich himself at the expense of the public, it’s called success.

If a civilian were to do what soldiers regularly do, those acts would be called crimes and would be severely punished. But soldiers, in all societies, are praised and honored. We have two holidays honoring them.
Governments don’t kidnap people; they arrest, detain, and imprison them. They don’t steal property; they confiscate it. They don’t murder people; they execute them. The different words used express different attitudes toward what is done, based on who does it. To some extent, the differences in attitude go back to pre-modern times when “the king could do no wrong”.

There are different attitudes toward government actions depending on whether the government doing them is the government of the place where we live (or another government with which our government is currently friendly) or one that our government regards as unfriendly. An outstanding example of this is possession of nuclear weapons. Such possession by our government or its allies is criticized only by a relatively small number of anti-nuclear protestors, while similar possession by unfriendly governments is widely condemned.

There are double standards in news reporting: violent events in the U.S. and western Europe are more extensively reported here than similar events in other places. Shoplifting is more reported than wage theft and other abuses of workers by their employers, though the latter crime is more injurious to its victims than the former.

The “Black Lives Matter” movement arose in protest against instances of a double standard toward police officers who used deadly force against people of color who had committed minor offenses or none at all.

It’s always easier to observe others’ faults than one’s own. We readily overlook or forgive ourselves, and those with whom we identify, for actions that we condemn when others do them. A humanistic ethical position would have a single standard for approval or disapproval, independent of who performs the action.