The idea to create this thread came to me when I was reading some of the posts in Binsty’s thread for racism, particularly the posts made by JigSaw and warmaker. I thought back to when I spoke in one of my college classes. I asked the class to take a quick moment, as individuals, to reflect on what they thought of me. I will proceed to tell you all what I told them.

“When I was ten years old I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Over the summer I work for a carnival [I have not been working there for a while now because of college]. I operate the games; I deal with the cash.” I paused for a moment then continued. “I am a born-again Christian.” So by judgmentalism, what does that make me?

The three statements actually conflict with each other. Because I have Aspberger’s Syndrome, I should be an idiot. Statement 2 conflicts with this because a carny is supposed to be crafty and cunning. Statement 3 conflicts with statement 2 because a Christian does not steal.

I will admit, I do judge other people. I do not want to, but I do. All of this begs me to ask this question. Is there any way to combat the judgmentalism that pervades our society? I have at least one answer. Do what I have done here. Tell people about yourself in an honest fashion.


By the way, do you see anything else about me and my post that would make you judge me?

I don't really understand. First off, people with Asperger's are not necessarily stupid, and are often more intelligent than the average person. Second, a summer job at a carnival does not make one cunning. Third, not all carnivals rip people off, so working at one does not necessarily make one a thief. Even if you were a thief, Christians in general don't follow every rule laid out in the Bible.

Being judgemental is an automatic reaction. It can be useful and it can be a mistake. Either way, its biggest problem is when you judge someone early on and then refuse to change your opinion when you learn more about the person.

I no matter how hard we try, we're always going to judge people. It's in our nature; humans just feel more comfortable putting labels on people. The only thing you can do is just try to get to know a person for them. You're going to come up with some sort of judgement the second you meet them, but get to know them to prove that judgement right or wrong.

AuraBlaze : judging people is not the issue,everyone does it,but treating people badly due to your judgements would be wrong.

thenumberone : I completely agree.

It is within our human nature to judge. Whenever you meet someone, read something, and so on, you make judgements about that person, event, thing, etc. Judging is part of our way of trying to make sense of things, understanding our surroundings, interacting with people, and making rational decisions.

The bad part happens when people take judgements based on incomplete or incorrect information, and apply them to their relationships with others, their life, their reactions to things, and so on. We may have first impressions or preconceived ideas of things, but they
are not always correct. We need to accept that we may be wrong and look past that. Initial judgements are almost always incomplete, if we get over that, then we can be more understanding and fair.

We cannot stop judging people, but we can stop trying to fit people into "boxes" or labels, and we can look deeper into things before running our mouth off about something we are not truly knowledgeable about.

Annette : I could not have said it better myself.

We should look at judgmentalism without such a negative light. Sometimes we make good judgments. Sometimes we make bad judgments. It happens. We're only human. What I try to do is nothing. When I make a less than positive judgment on something, I tend to keep it to myself because I very well may be wrong. Coming from a guy who bombs on first impressions, they really aren't everything. Keep that in mind, and you should cope with it better.

Traduweise :
rlmathias01 :
thenumberone :
Annette :
NotJon :

Thanks everyone for your replies.  I needed everyone of them.

Traduweise :   (Please do not think of this as me singling you out.  I had to post my reply down here to ensure that I did summon everyone.)  Just to clarify, allow me to explain my reasoning behind
the statements.  1) Aspberger's Syndrome is disputed to be a mental
disability, when I have learned that it is merely a different pattern of
thinking.  2) Carnies have earned a bad reputation for rigging their
games, this reputation still lingers.  3) Christians can never follow
ever rule.  It is physically impossible.  Some people do not understand
this and see Christians as hypocrites.