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Hypocrisy is like HSV1, the virus that causes cold sores; we've all been exposed to it and most of us are infected. It stays hidden in most of us nearly all the time, only becoming visible to others when it flashes into hideous, visible life. So just think of Caitlin Flanagan as having a particularly gruesome cold sore that never quite goes away. We should all be used to that by now; since the right became ascendant in American political and cultural life we've all had to learn to live with the disfigurement it has wrought. There was a time when an outbreak of this disease caused the sufferer shame and humiliation, but many of us, particularly those in the media, have learned to carry its weeping sores with a smugness that boggles the mind. So hold your head high, Caitlin! In the current epidemic your affliction will barely be noticed.
