Quote:
Originally Posted by blueash
The danger occurs when you slip without even noticing from judging to pre-judging a situation or an individual. Being judicial is a positive, being prejudicial is a negative. The former requires information which hopefully is in itself accurate and free from bias. The latter requires satisfaction with one's own unchallenged world view, or ignorance.
Language is important. How is a sex worker different from a call girl from a slut? The job is the same but the word you choose calls up differing mental pictures. Is a person who speeds an illegal driver? I think the word deserves is a loaded word. It suggests to me that punishment is merited after having considered all the mitigating circumstances. Too many of your examples have intentionally been left vague thus I don't have enough information to decide whether the person "deserves" the consequence.
So in the spirit of the challenge I will answer NO most and give an example of how it could be that the punishment isn't merited by the offense
1. Speeding ticket.. as above, friend is having a heart attack and you are getting him to the hospital. Mitigating circumstance, driver needs help not a ticket
2. Failing student... Student has a treatable learning disability which school is not addressing. He seems to be daydreaming and never gets his work done, slacking. Repeating the grade will not help, diagnosis and therapy are what is needed and this student may shine. Or to make it even simpler, the kid needs glasses.
3. I can even stretch this one. Episode of Bones. Bank robber was forced to do it because he had been kidnapped and had remote control explosive devise strapped to his body. So he robbed the bank but did not deserve to go to jail.
4. Unhealthy lifestyle.. Who is defining unhealthy and how certain is your data? If a person fails to exercise due to arthritis do they deserve more trouble? Do smokers deserve lung cancer and COPD? If a person gets high from running they are considered to have a good addiction. If a person gets high from eating, a bad one.
5. Suicidal moment. If you jump you should expect to die which is very different from deserve to die.
6. This is actually the most difficult. If a person is judgmental do they deserve to be judged? If I encounter a bigot do I have an obligation to point out their bigotry? Does my sense of just walk away and avoid confrontation constitute me being judgmental but civil or judgmental and cowardly? Is the offense I experience at hearing the expression of prejudice my problem or should I be judging the speaker harshly? Does the speaker even know that his words are offensive? The seller "gypped" me. The buyer jewed me down. He was an Indian giver. All words that are fortunately becoming less commonly heard as all are highly offensive if you know the history of the words. But if a speaker is unaware of the derivation... Do I correct her, do I judge her, do I walk away? See it is never easy.
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A very deep and thoughtful post and very well presented as to give us pause and reason to think...and not judgmental. (The American spelling, Brits spell it ..judgemental.
It is VERY hard not to pre-judge at our age sometimes. If we get on an airplane, we feel safer if everyone looks like the guys and girls in OUR town, the one we grew up in. If not we begin thinking about shoes with stuff in them and underwear under folks clothes who look well, you know...different.
It is human to jump to conclusions. Human. Even the kindest among us do it .