Describes a double-standard, where elected officials do not care about civil rights violations concerning ordinary citizens, but scandalize similar violations when they happen to them.

Coined by Edward Snowden.
"It's equally if not more concerning that we're seeing another 'Merkel Effect,' where an elected official does not care at all that the rights of millions of ordinary citizens are violated by our spies, but suddenly it's a scandal when a politician finds out the same thing happens to them."

Edward Snowden in an interview with NBC news.
by dzire187 March 15, 2014
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