Anybody have any ideas why about 98% of people’s reaction to any experience is to judge it? It may be just an idiosyncratic psychological issue with me that I notice this, but maybe not. An objective example is when I bring up my internet screen there is a place to vote on there, the latest being whether I thought “justice was served” by the execution of you-know-who. Aren’t we being continually urged to judge, to evaluate, to choose, and isn’t it all just a way of making us better consumers if we can think we really have any choices? You try to teach or tell people something and instead of trying to understand, they rush to judgment. Everybody has an opinion on every subject, and less and less knowledge on any subject. So the question is
other than my theory of how it helps capitalism above, what causes this judgmentalism, which I thought we were supposed to have gotten rid of in the 60’s? And what else is there that you can think of that wouldn’t be a judgment, when confronted, say, with some new experience. Why are we all such critics?
We have to evaluate everything in life, or else decision-making would be impossible. Because of our experiences, our upbringing and our education we hold certain issues dear to us, and these are inevitably going to create strong subjective feelings. What do you do with a new experience other than evaluate it? Even at the most basic level, something is good/bad, enjoyable/not enjoyable, interesting/boring.
You can’t go through life not evaluating events, people, objects and ideas. Communication would be very difficult. Decision-making would be incredibly difficult. Realistically, the best you can do is to recognise the subjectivity of your belifes and be prepared to revise them as you find new experiences.
As for the 1960s, I think you could make a convincing argument that it was an era emphasising the importance of subjective feelings. It was a particularly “expressive” time.
Why is this in ATMB?
Moving this to The BBQ Pit. See http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=73967 for an explanation.
I like candy.
Boredom?
What a strange question. People are “judgemental” because they have to “judge” or evaluate events and happenings in their daily life in order to live as human beings. Life is a continual process of “judging” this or that and putting it into a perspective we can understand.
I think mattk answered the question most effectively. Why is this a brain teaser, isn’t your life (like everyone else’s) an ongoing process of evaluation of making judgements about this or that in order to choose the best alternative?
If this question is really about why are people naturally conservative or disapproving of behavior etc. different than their own that’s a somewhat different sociological kettle of fish.
I didn’t find your OP particularly clear. Asking why people have opinions on everything they experience simply does not compute to me – why would you expect people to not form opinions of the things they experience? That’s part of being a conscious, thinking being, isn’t it?
However, from this section of your OP, I get the impression that what you’re really asking is why people seem to value having an uninformed opinion over withholding judgement until they have enough information to form an informed opinion. Is this what you’re asking, or am I out to lunch?
(I don’t really see the connection to capitalism, consumerism, or the 60s, either.)
I’m going to give this rant a 6.4
A 6.4? Never. That barely earned a 3.5. Shit, I complain better, which is compliment to neither me nor the OP.
My cat’s breath smells like cat food.
Boy, this one just cries out for a Cecil answer. But where is he when we need him? Enjoying his ill-gotten gains in rural Louisiana? Eating quiche in Hong Kong? Sending postcards? Nada.
The posts thus far have pointed out, quite rightly, that without being able to discriminate between what we want and what we don’t is essential to survival. Even for voles.
Your tone, on the other hand, indicates another thing entirely–which is that you are being annoyed by too many judgements. (Leave the 60s aside, there’s no evidence that anybody who lived after them learned anything from those halcyon days of mob-think.)
One crucial difference here is that making the judgement, and forcing one’s opinion down somebody else’s throat are two different things. (Surprise, they probably have their own judgements!)
Another was first articulated in the literature by Mr. Christ, who probably was speaking mostly of moral judgements. He said, to paraphrase heavily, “Don’t judge people on moral grounds, it’s not your place. Oh, and by the way, you’re going to be judged by an expert in the not-too-distant future.”
Hey Don, my experience of you is you’re as OK as the rest of us. That’s a judgement, of course.
Well this is interesting. After reading this in print I suddenly changed my mind. Just goes to show what public proclamations can do.
I’m realizing the first sentence should read “Don’t judge people on moral grounds, unless you’d like to be immediately judged on a similar basis.”
Consult the original text to make your own evaluation.
Have you been eating the paste?
Of course, I will not be judgemental about it.
What I learned from the '60s:
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The government can be wrong.
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Conservatives are usually thinking simplistically and will write off an entire era with some made-up term like “mob-think.”
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Liberals can do it, too. My favorite term of derision was “fascist.”
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Never mix, never worry.
What would make this a true rant is if you’d ask the question why do so many people think that their own gut reaction is the equivalanet of a measured, analytical, critical bit of well-considered judgment?
THAT’s what drives me crazy. I’m all for people being allowed, even encouraged, to evaluate and judge the world around them. But for christ’s fucking sake, bring some brain cells in with you to do the job!
andros, you’re my hero.
I’ll assume, rightly or wrongly, that the above quote was actually intended to mean “judge it and make that judgement known to others”. If so, it likely has to do with the fact that no matter how our behavior may be restricted by legal, moral or societal restraints, at least we can spout off our opinions, even if it is impossible to act upon them. If those opinions happen to be ill-informed, no matter; apparently our society requires everyone to have an opinion on every issue, for if one does not, it shows they are not sufficiently interested in the world around them.
I believe that people ARE more judgemental than they were a generation or two ago.
And I think it has a lot to do with the power and triumph of advertising (and therefore is connected to the success of consumerism and capitalism).
The advertising industry makes people feel like they are being continuously judged; for the car they drive, the cigarettes they smoke, the watch they wear, how much they earn, where they live.
Anorexic teenage girls are starving themselves to death in the land of plenty, and I believe this phenomena is, in no small part, a result of feeling they are being harshly judged based solely on the shape of their bodies. And they aren’t wrong. Talk to any man, they can spot 1/4 oz of body fat from 100 yards!
Persons who are the most judgemental of others are, in my experience, actually feeling the most judged!
“Nuh, Mthhh Hoother.”
(Wah, ain’t you jest the sweeeetest, Miss Davis?)