[mrpopo]

I am not contradicting him. I am sure you understand that these cases make headlines more easily because of the shock-value, and that all other activists who are not doing that are not making it into the news.

I am also sure you understand that seeing some hypocrites preaching water while drinking wine should not stop you from reducing your alcohol intake, as you know it's unhealthy regardless.

[luckylion]

It's not about uncovering hypocrites (though I do believe it's important to do so, lies are destroying society), it's about managing expectations.

There are giant gaps between what humans a) believe to be true, b) do individually and c) say they believe and do. You can get people to say that they believe some action is necessary, but it's rare to see actual meaningful action that actually impacts them (it's easy to say "I'm fine with outlawing meat" if you don't like meat for example, it's very different if you happen to enjoy meat).

My point is that it's unreasonable to expect average people to take "the big picture" into account for individual decisions (e.g. buying car, or taking a vacation away from home, or having children, or changing their diet), and all you can expect from doing so is disappointment over how uncommitted people are.