the Truth about Judging people

If you watch people for long enough, then you might observe that people often speak out on, "being judged." They usually claim something to the effect of, "nobody but God has a right to judge me." These same people also claim to be non-judgmental.

All of this is grossly false.

Aside from the imaginary (God) part, these people are unrealistic hypocrites. What they're really saying is that they are uncomfortable with being judged negatively. If you gave one of these people a positive compliment, or a positive endorsement, then you wouldn't hear them bitching about being judged. In fact, they would probably be extremely thankful that you decided to convey your judgement to them.

If, on the other hand, you gave that same person a polite - but negative - comment, or if you condemned something about them, then that person would probably complain about being judged, and judge you negatively for revealing your judgement to them.

The fallacy is obvious, yet this is something that the average person can easily observe in their daily lives.

As human beings, we have trouble accepting negativity even when (especially when) the negativity is an accurate interpretation of reality. We don't have an issue with judgement; we love praise. Some of us live for praise. The thing that we have trouble with is someone pointing out something negative. This is a personality flaw that we all posses to varying degrees.

The best that we can do is to try to be aware of this when we encounter others. If someone has something negative to say about you, then think about what they're saying, and evaluate their basis in it. If their argument has merit, then address it. If their claim doesn't have any merit, then dismiss it. Don't, however, condemn the judgement, because you wouldn't be condemning them if their opinion was positive!

And the next time that you catch someone bitching about being judged, give them a positive compliment, watch the bitching stop, and let yourself smirk as sarcastically as possible at their hypocrisy. If you want to risk being labeled an asshole, then you can try pointing it out the hypocrisy to them, but the odds are that they probably won't understand.