Judging people from their past experience/looks

May 14, 2009 2:50am CST
Following a discussion I started on here, has prompt me to start another discussion. I have noticed a lot of people on here tend to judge a person by their past experience or their situations. I know some people also judge other people by how they look, but is this really fair to judge a person when you don't know anything about them? Have you ever judged someone in this way, because of something you have heard or from what they look like? I used to judge people all the time, but have learnt that you shouldn't judge people unless you know all the facts. Just because someone make dress tarty and go out dressed like a sl*g doesn't mean they are a sl*g!
6 people like this
15 responses
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
14 May 09
I don't judge others at all. We each have a life to live and are free, or shuold be free, to live it as we please. I may not agree with how a person is living theirs but it's up to them as it IS theirs. I know of people who have criminal episodes in their past and then chnaged into the most delightful, caring people. Their past was a mistkae but as no-one is perfect we all makes some sort of mistake. Is it best to have a job in a bank through the 'reccomendation of a friend' or to have a job cleaning the streets and live your life honestly at peace with yourself? We are never in a postiion to judge others, and neither should we attempt to, as there will always be something in everyone's past which is not shared with others.
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
14 May 09
I can indeed see what you are saying and it is more difficult to not judge than to judge but as I am convinced that I am not in any position to decide what is 'good' and what is 'bad' I cannot judge. I moved to London, from the countryside, and worked for a while and then moved permanently to Italy. I had been brought up to think that certain things were and certain things weren't good. When I moved I realised that is not always so. It depends very much on where we are located and waht are the customs of the place we are in. I have many friends who are considered by others as 'good' amd many who are considered as 'bad'. Both types are my friends because they have something special which cannot be put into a category.
@mimuche (163)
• Canada
15 May 09
I am going to say that I have most likely done that during my teenage years specially, and while it might not have been intentional it does not hide the fact that I have done it. But thankfully people change and I have learned that judging people for being who they are is just plain wrong. And those people that go out there wearing that dress or those pants that the rest of the world hates and thinks is just awful are the people that I now admire for they are not afraid of what others think of them and just show truly who they are without trying to be someone they are not. So now for me everything is based on "Don't judge the book by it's cover". We are all unique in our own ways and should cherish that while trying not to judge the others for being themselves.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
15 May 09
I know that I still judge people but as for openly judging people (to their face) I don't like to do it. I often find that I have jumped to conclusions. I still haven't learned to not judge but I know that I am trying my hardest not to. It's not right to judge, and it's even written in the bible.
@sweetyethot (1737)
• China
15 May 09
Generally,I dont bother to judge people.In fact,you dont have to do this unless you will have a steady relationship with him/her.Under such situations,its not enough to judge him/her only by his/her looks,dresses,or past experience.Do not forget that people all change but some things may remain same for the whole life.
@yoyozhou (356)
• China
15 May 09
Yes, we can not judge anyone because we know nothing or we just know a part of a peoson. We only can express what we thought and share our views on something with others.And that can give others fresh idea.
• China
15 May 09
It's naturally that we judge people by how they look,especially meet at the first time.It's so called "First Impression".What we must notice is the "First Impression" may be cheating,when people use "Impression Management".So,we cann't judge people only by how they look or their past experience. Therefore,i agree that we shouldn't judge people unless we know all the facts.
@subha12 (18441)
• India
14 May 09
May be, sometimes I have also judged people from the past experiences. with some people, who behaved badly with me or had any bad things, I knew it is not the good person.I know it can change but sometimes the mental blocks are there.
• United States
14 May 09
I hate to say that I do this but I do. I hate that I do it though. I would love to not judge people by their past. But truly I try to be a forgiving person and the majority of the time I make sure to look past the past as long as its not in the present. When I love and care for a person I tend to look past issues that I hate or dont approve of because I care about them. However I cant say I dont not judge. Dont we all do this and hate it later? I do for sure! But I agree we shouldnt judge by the past. I am a christian and believe that in the past is in the past like forgiven all is by God. But even as a Christian I struggle with not judging a person for things they have done. I dont often but its still there. Something I am hoping to work on soon.
@mjmlagat (3170)
• Philippines
14 May 09
It' purely injustice and unfair if you judge people from what you heard of them because they might be just baseless accusations..or even if these are true, people change and learn from their experiences so, it's just rude to dislike them because of their past experiences in life. Who are we to judge?
@modstar (9605)
• Philippines
14 May 09
No, it's not fair. I think it's best if we should know more about that certain person before judging him or her. I mean let's give them the benefit of the doubt like on your example. Some people cannot be judge simply because of the clothes they wear. Of course it may give us some hints but i don't think that's enough to confirm our judgment. Who knows but they might even be the type f person who are far more superior than us on other things. I guess it's ok to judge but we'd rather keep it to ourselves than to spread about it because we may be wrong and that would save us from embarrassments.
@chillpill90 (1936)
14 May 09
i used to judge people by how they look as they used to judge me on how i look but as i grew up i realised that i dont really care on if they judge me as they dont know me. Since then i decided i wil change my opinion on others as its not fair to go on how somone looks as they could have a great personality even if they are not the best looking person in the world.
@vivianchen (2646)
• China
14 May 09
Hello there, You are right, you should never judge a person by his past or his appearance. But unfortunately, that is what we did all the time! If you are a office manager. There are 2 persons stand infornt of you, their ability almost the same, will you pick the better looking one ? If so, you are doing the judgement by the apperance.
@ilawise26 (191)
• India
14 May 09
Hi kiss_me2070! Your username's a bit funny! Now am i judging you? ;) We as humans are naturally inclined to judge anyone we come across with whatever information is available to them! Consider this case,i come to your discussion,read your username which i think should describe you.Now this gives me an impression that you are someone who loves to be kissed and similar opinions would follow! While this may not be true!!! Every person tries to throw some picture of himself/herselfwhen he/she comes in contact with the other. When it comes to face to face interactions-what we see is the person's expressions,body language,language and ofcourse the personality. Using what is visible to us,we try to judge the person to make an initial impression so that we remember that person with those attributes. In case of online interactions-we try to judge people with their usernames,kind of discussions they start etc. So its natural that we do the judging knowingly or unknowingly as our brain needs to form an image of whatevr we come across!!! Whether it is good or bad to judge people this way is not the right question because we tend to do this without we realising it!!! So its fine to make such judgements as long as you don't let these judgements become permanent without much proof! These judgements should be flexible to change as we gradually come to know that person!!!! Happy mylotting!!!
@tracydee (172)
• Philippines
15 May 09
It's not really fair to judge someone by his or her past experience or his or her looks. I admit that I have judged people by what others say about them, by their past experiences and by their looks. But many times also that I was able to prove myself wrong particularly to those people whom I have judged negatively. I think it's normal for us people to judge others but what is important is that we are open to know more about this person and check on his or her positive side.
• United States
14 May 09
I have judged others in the past, without knowing all the facts; or much about them. I think it's human nature at times, because things like how someone looks, talks, acts; ECT- does say something about them. On the other hand, if you don't know a whole lot about a person, something about their outward appearance and actions has a different view than if you knew more about them. I've gotten much better at not judging someone right off the bat, because if I had more facts; I may very well think differently.