Prejudice and Postjudice
There are a lot of questions about judging. About what are appropriate and inappropriate things to judge on, about what judgment even means. While I don’t have cosmic answers, I do have some insights into the question.
The biggest question that I see is the difference between pre-judging and judging based on actual information. Pre-judging involves things like skin color, sex, clothing, and other things. Of those, I think the only ones one has any right to judge on are those that are clearly chosen (like clothing) and even there one must be careful. While someone choosing to pick a certain clothing outlook may well want to be seen a certain way, that doesn’t make that perception accurate.
Judging based on actual information, however, is not only acceptable but necessary. We cannot simply claim to not judge and walk through life with our head in blinders. For one thing, it is a lie no matter how much we claim to value being non-judgmental. It is impossible to not judge as we go, to not evaluate the worth of the people around us and what we think of their choices, their actions. For another, it is actively harmful to ourselves and those we care for when we don’t evaluate the people around us to make accurate decisions.
So what do we do? We do our best to make certain our judgment criteria are worthwhile ones, that what we worry about are things that are meaningful instead of superficial. It’s perfectly reasonable to worry about what people are doing around you and how that effects you. We judge if the person is someone we want to spend any time around, if this person is someone safe to associate with, if this is even someone we enjoy the company of. When we don’t do this, we find ourselves spending a lot of time with people we don’t like.
Prejudice simply blinds ourselves to the possibilities that exist, and belittles people into superficial categories. True judgment frees us to treat people as they are instead of as generic groups.
Questions:
Why do we judge? When shouldn’t we?
What do you think are appropriate things to judge on?
In what way do you want to be judged? What characteristics do you want people to see? What ones offend you when you’re judged on them?
The biggest question that I see is the difference between pre-judging and judging based on actual information. Pre-judging involves things like skin color, sex, clothing, and other things. Of those, I think the only ones one has any right to judge on are those that are clearly chosen (like clothing) and even there one must be careful. While someone choosing to pick a certain clothing outlook may well want to be seen a certain way, that doesn’t make that perception accurate.
Judging based on actual information, however, is not only acceptable but necessary. We cannot simply claim to not judge and walk through life with our head in blinders. For one thing, it is a lie no matter how much we claim to value being non-judgmental. It is impossible to not judge as we go, to not evaluate the worth of the people around us and what we think of their choices, their actions. For another, it is actively harmful to ourselves and those we care for when we don’t evaluate the people around us to make accurate decisions.
So what do we do? We do our best to make certain our judgment criteria are worthwhile ones, that what we worry about are things that are meaningful instead of superficial. It’s perfectly reasonable to worry about what people are doing around you and how that effects you. We judge if the person is someone we want to spend any time around, if this person is someone safe to associate with, if this is even someone we enjoy the company of. When we don’t do this, we find ourselves spending a lot of time with people we don’t like.
Prejudice simply blinds ourselves to the possibilities that exist, and belittles people into superficial categories. True judgment frees us to treat people as they are instead of as generic groups.
Questions:
Why do we judge? When shouldn’t we?
What do you think are appropriate things to judge on?
In what way do you want to be judged? What characteristics do you want people to see? What ones offend you when you’re judged on them?
posted by Vieva @ 6:33 PM
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