Why It Is Wrong to Over Judge Other People
Why It Is Wrong to Over Judge Other People
The modern-day society has people with who spend much time morally judging the character and behavior of others. Many are the moments when you are not sure whether to judge or not. However, despite the urge not to judge other people, their behaviors and characters justify the need to label where they belong. Being judgmental is not wrong but being overly judgmental. Studies have indicated that judgment about people is a product of either gossip or defamation. Gossip depicts banter about people behind their back. Despite being factual or not, people tend to draw a negative impression about others when gossiping. On the other hand, Orderberg says defamation depicts when a person disparages another person’s reputation to extent that is legally punishable. The idea of being morally judgmental is not wrong, however, a judgment that sways away from the objectively true moral principles hurts creates a negative impression about others and based on emotions rather than being rational.
Judgmentalism can either be subjective or objective. The objectivists impose a moral code on the behaviors of others using the moral principles and given the consensus held by the majority. Conversely, the subjectivists judge others based on the necessity for others. Therefore, a subjectivist will avoid to judge but judge when only to fulfill the needs of others. Both Subjective and objective judgments can be injurious to others when they are informed by selfish desires. In most cases, being overly judgmental depicts the aspect of the making the other person feel problematically diminished. A judgment should be open to opinion and evaluation to challenge whether moral principles or pessimistic desires guide it.
A successful judgment is one that separates the problematic act from a person. The person’s dynamics should be considered when making a judgment to ensure that a onetime act does not warrant an uninformed judgment about the person. It is evident that most people while judging tend to attribute an act of a person’s personality rather the variables presented in a particular situation. For instance, a person may be mean given that circumstances dictate that he should be mean. However, people will mostly tend to overlook a person’s situational variables and go ahead to label him negatively (Oderberg). Therefore, it is important for a person to keep in mind that insensitive that is not informed by values have damaging effects on other people’s reputation.
An idiosyncratic value-frame mainly informs a person who is overly judging. A good judgment is one that is responsive to the values-frame dynamic (Raghunathan). The value-frame dynamic posits that when a person is judging something wrong, he must be guided by a value-framework to qualify that thing as wrong. People who fail to use a value-based framework of judgment have a fixed and overt behavior toward the people they are judging. The value-framework enunciates the rules that a person should follow when making a judgment about another person. The rules help the person evaluate how his judgment will likely affect another person. A value-based judgment is void of spite, jealousy, lust and other corrosive hateful emotions.
Raghunathan argues that being overly judgmental also clouds a person’s reflection of the fundamental dimension of being human. When a person judges another person as inferior, he does not only perceive the person as inferior in one dimension but in all dimensions. Therefore, to a judgmental person, one dimension is enough to determine the overall worthiness of a person. For instance, a when a person inferior in academics, a judgmental person will label the person as a failure in life. However, intelligence has many varieties and being inferior in academic is not enough to conclude that a person is a failure in life (Raghunathan). A person with a high IQ is not the same in other intelligence. Therefore, it is important to avoid being clouded by the rash of judging others to define the overall worthiness of a person using one dimension.
Raghunathan argues that being judgmental is also wrong since it does not only say who you are but also affects your relationships with others. A person who feels that he has the sole right to judge other people exhibit inherent fear and anger about his own life and that is why he rushes to knee-jerk reactions. The act of being overly judgmental indicates that a person is looking for compensation for his own insufficiencies in life. The judgmental people are often perceived as superior or people egoistic. However, they are people with so many fears, anger, pity and adverse state of mind that prompt them to label others to feel secure. Notably, the judgmental people tend to attack before they get attacked. People who are overly judgmental have tarnished relationships with other people. They are less happy than those who judge less. Drouvelis and Powdthavee (111) assert that people who less judgmental have positive emotions and moral dimensions than those who are judgmental. The judgmental people are lonely and they try to bond with other people using negativity.
Judgments hurt other people in unexpected ways. When people learn what judgmental people said about them they are hurt especially when there no factual credence to what is being said. The emotional sufferings caused by judgments that are based on no substantial ground affect a person’s quality of life (Henriques). Consequently, judgments bring negativity in a person’s life and make the world unhappy place by disregarding emotional wellbeing of others. Moreover, the judgments perpetuate stereotypes that also portray people contrary to what they are in reality. Stereotypes tend to set unrealistic standards that must be met by people hence affecting their ability to live a happy free life. Precisely, being overly judgment means that a person makes judgments without being aware of the consequences.
Negative judgments are a product of a limited store of knowledge that makes use of limited figures, facts and fancies to make a solution to a situation. Judgmental people are informed by pride that leads to suffering in other people. It is essential when making a judgment about other people to take responsibility for making the correct judgment. One should put himself in the shoes of the person he is judging to evaluate how he would feel. Most people focus on the negatives which undermine their judgments. It is essential to focus on the positives of a person to avoid being unrealistic and downgrading judgments.
Works Cited
Drouvelis, Michalis and Nattavudh Powdthavee. Are happier people less judgmental of other people’s selfish behaviors? Experimental survey evidence from trust and gift exchange games, Journal of Behavioral Experience and Economy. Vol 58 (2015): 111–12
Henriques, Gregg. On Making Judgments and Being Judgmenta. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/theory-knowledge/201305/making-judgments-and-being-judgmental
Oderberg, David. “The Morality of Reputation and the Judgment of Others.” Journal of Practical Ethics.
Raghunathan, Raj. Don’t Be Judgmental, Be.Discerning. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sapient-nature/201105/dont-be-judgmental-be-discerning
