Too many people have bought into the belief that it is wrong or undesirable to be judgmental. It has never made any sense to me to feel this way. As humans we have a responsibility to use our intelligence to think critically about everything and everyone. How else can we help make the world better?
Yes, to be judgmental is to be either negative or positive about something that is nontrivial. How else can we seek justice, make necessary changes and improve our nation and lives, if not by being judgmental.
Reaching a judgment, however, is not the same as acting on that judgment, but it is the necessary first step. Without judgmental mindsets there is no chance whatsoever of fixing the many evils that plague us.
Being a mature adult means shouldering the responsibility of being judgmental. To deny this responsibility is what should be condemned, not being judgmental.
Of course being judgmental is not the same as being nasty or bellicose. One can and should be judgmental while also being cordial and civil.
We need to use the best communication skills in delivering our judgments to others, particularly because if we believe in our judgments we should want to convince others that we have a well supported and reasoned position. This is key to obtaining larger scale changes and improvements. In other words, it makes no sense to be judgmental and then be so shy that we hold our positions in secret. No, we must be both judgmental and openly proud to tell others about our judgments.
This also means being honest and open enough to new information and thinking that may change our conclusions and positions. In other words, being judgmental without being flexible is what should be avoided. And that is the problem with so many people that we classify as extremists: they are terribly rigid in their judgments.
To be judgmental while also being respected by others requires openness to listening to the positions of others, and taking them seriously. Being sensibly judgmental is better than just being casually opinionated.
Judgment day should be everyday. Naturally to be judgmental one must be open to be judged by others.
"We praise or blame as one or the other affords more opportunity for exhibiting our power of judgment." Friedrich Nietzsche got it right. We must inform and develop our power of judgment.
Save your judgments for things that really matter. Do not fear to be judgmental about yourself. When someone proudly claims to be nonjudgmental, think seriously about them.
Good article Joel. A different tack if I may. When a meditating Buddhist is resolving a problem, he or she doesn’t attempt to resolve it with the brain. They instead focus on the anxiousness and stress involved, and don’t necessarily worry about solving the problem per se. This helps prevent the added baggage of judging, which is an unnecessary psychological addition to actually solving the problem. The meditator watches his or her breath, and trusts that wisdom regarding the situation will arise, and it usually does. If a Buddhist has to make a choice, what to eat tonight, they don’t see that as a judgment call but rather an inclination based on their underlying life continuum consciousness which fruits karma.
There are many rather mundane decisions that, indeed, require little thinking or judgment. But important things require critical thinking and making judgments. Bob Herbert's column in the NY Times today is excellent. He concluded: The nation’s political leaders and their corporate puppet masters have fouled this nation up to a fare-thee-well. We will not be pulled from the morass without a big effort from an active citizenry, and that means a citizenry fired with a sense of mission and the belief that their actions, in concert with others, can make a profound difference.
What he sees necessary of real citizens requires people making serious judgments about what is wrong and evil and what needs to be done to fix things. Responsible citizenship inevitably requires a judgmental frame of mind.
I agree with you Joel. It seems that many people never tune into the news or what's going on in the country or the world. This unawareness causes crisis after crisis where nothing is done until things spin out of control and a lot of people suffer. I don't know what the answer is to this attention deficit, especially with the younger people who are too busy to tune in. I have the same problem with meditation. I can advise people to meditate and get a handle on their karma and their actions before it's too late, but usually only after a very disquiting event in their lives are they ready to finally sit still and learn about their minds. Boy, if everyone was a smart as us, ay? (Yuk, yuk)
Judgment is too often mistaken as prejudice. But it is the only true basis of determining what is important and meaningful. Your judgment is based upon your own experiences in life and the guide for your future conduct.
Very good piece addressing a needed area for clarity. I especially like the cordial part - some things and ideas need to change and how can we accomplish that without a bit of fruit inspection in ourselves and others. Marijo
Interesting concept in this "don't you judge me" world. You make a great point about to be judgmental you must be open to judgment yourself. That's a great argument against anonymous comments on SearchWarp. Another great piece, Joel!
Good article. When people admonish others to not be judgmental of them, they are, in fact, striving for an elimination of standards. Whereas we're all flawed beings and prone to make mistakes, we need standards. We need something better than ourselves to aspire to.
We just need to be careful of how we judge others as, in the end, we are judged by the very standards that we ourselves establish.
» left by Suzanne Morris from Faber VA (64 days 9 hours ago.)
The term "judgmental" implies a moral evaluation. It carries a personal judgment that something is good, bad, evil, horrible, superior etc. I would agree that it is critical for each person to evaluate situations, statements, events etc. and then make the decision (based on one's personal beliefs) to move in a direction that supports the evaluation that we have made. I, for example, look at a situation such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I believe that they are not in the best interest of this country or of the world in general. I perceive them as the attempt by this country to act in an imperialistic and nation-building way that does not respect the culture, beliefs and requests of another country. I clearly am evaluating the situation and saying that I do not support the wars of my own country. Someone else may have an entirely different set of beliefs that allows them to see the same acts as patriotic, supportive of world democracies and freedom etc. When we engage in judgment we add our own moral twist to the evaluation. In fact, we often do not even evaluate and respond; we just react at an emotional level (i.e. the "axis of evil" judgment made by President Bush which whipped fear and a desire for this country to attack Iraq because we believed that we were preventing or pre-empting further attacks on this country). When I carefully evaluate a situation rather than judging it, I am more likely to act in accord with my beliefs and evaluation. Many people feel that by being very judgmental and superior in their view of a situation, they need not do more.
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