Consistency against hypocrisy, or on a martyrdom trip?

Another age-old debate. In this clip below, from “Dreams Die Hard” David Harris recounts a debate about strategy/what next with his friend Dennis Sweeney

“I don’t believe you’re saying this, Dennis. If I felt that way I’d still have a deferment. I’ve given all kinds of speeches telling people they ought to join The Resistance, and there are people in jail for doing what I told them to . If I let them go to jail while I stay out, that makes it all just so much hypocritical bullshit.”

“No,” Dennis insisted, “That’s not true. As long as you keep organizing. Otherwise you’re just becoming a martyr, and we martyrs are no good to anybody.”

“You sound like Stop the Draft Week,” I snapped.

“You sound like Joan Baez,” he snapped back.

We glared at each other for a minute, and the conversation never went much further.

(Harris, 1982:242)