I don't know if we have a "right" to judge per se, but we do have a need to do so. Regardless of whether we have all of the information (we usually don't), we need to make judgments to navigate this world. We also need to be reflective enough to evaluate our judgments after the fact to understand what good judgments and bad judgments look like. If we waited until we had all of the information ahead of time, we'd never make judgments. Is that a good thing?And yet, as vison put it, I always, always, feel - do I have the right to judge? Do I know all the information about that person, his/her situation to make a sound judgment?
The Moral Imperative
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TheEllipticalDisillusion
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Primula Baggins
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No. We all have to judge people all the time, for our own safety and happiness or that of people we care for. I'd far rather be possibly unfair in a possibly hasty judgment than put my child at risk, for example.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Exactly.
When I was maybe ~4, my parents made a new acquaintance of another young couple. I'm not sure how they met, or whose idea it was, but I know that it was agreed that our families would take a trip to the zoo together.
We did. My mom got bad vibes from the guy, though - thought he was paying too much attention to her kids (my younger sister would have been ~2). She found him...creepy.
After the trip, when they got back, she told my father she never wanted to see this guy again, and certainly not to let him spend any time with the children.
Was he a pedophile? I have no idea - I never saw him again. I actually have no memory of this man, though I did have a vague recollection of the trip to the zoo. It may have been very unfair of my mom to make the judgment she did, but...it was part of her responsibility as a parent to act on her gut instincts, in this case.
When I was maybe ~4, my parents made a new acquaintance of another young couple. I'm not sure how they met, or whose idea it was, but I know that it was agreed that our families would take a trip to the zoo together.
We did. My mom got bad vibes from the guy, though - thought he was paying too much attention to her kids (my younger sister would have been ~2). She found him...creepy.
After the trip, when they got back, she told my father she never wanted to see this guy again, and certainly not to let him spend any time with the children.
Was he a pedophile? I have no idea - I never saw him again. I actually have no memory of this man, though I did have a vague recollection of the trip to the zoo. It may have been very unfair of my mom to make the judgment she did, but...it was part of her responsibility as a parent to act on her gut instincts, in this case.