To Judge Something One Should First Know It

Given that my previous post about personal life philosophies, Learn Something New Everyday, was so popular (my most popular post by far) I decided that perhaps it was time to discuss the second major life rule I try to live by: "to judge something I should first know it."

This is an idea that I have only really quantified to myself in the last few years but is a philosophy that is quite dear to me. It is all too easy to see a poster, an advertisement or a quote and draw an opinion from that, file it away and never go any deeper or re-examine that first impression. I see many people express rather firm views on things they have really only judged from the most passing exposure and I have often found myself drawn to do the same. It is so much easier to let stereotypes and first impressions to the judging for us than to exert the intellectual work to properly investigate and examine something.

In the most mundane sense this means I won't bash Twilight or the Hunger Games without first watching those movies (which I have). Whether it is a book, movie, TV show or video game I try not to take a firm stance or express a strong opinion on anything that I have not tried to experience first hand and given a fair and honest chance to win me over.

In terms of entertainment the outcomes and impact of applying a little intellectual rigor before passing judgement is mostly for my own personal satisfaction but this life philosophy becomes much more important when examining more serious issues. It is all too easy, especially for smart people, to justify beliefs that we have come to hold for very not smart reasons. As someone who was generally a very high grading student in school it was easy for me to fall into this trap but as I progressed through my college experience I came to question, re-evaluate and modify many of my positions on the most serious sociopolitical issues of our time. In essence this is an extension of the practice of acting as devil's advocate, to examine an issue from another angle or perhaps even one that you fundamentally disagree with. By putting yourself in another person's shoes metaphorically speaking it is possible to better define, reinforce or alter your own perceptions and beliefs.

Over the last few years I have systematically re-evaluated and re-investigated the core of every one of my political and intellectual stances and there were precious few that didn't see some alteration from that examination. Even if I ultimately simply re-affirmed my previous position there was not one such stance that was not seriously strengthened and better defined through the experience.

 I could provide a great many examples of this process and I may do so in future but for now it is not my intention to muddle the subject in particular complex or controversial issues so for the sake of keeping this post impartial let us return to entertainment as an example.

Were I to rely on first impressions and popular consensus I would likely repeat the general perception that James Cameron's movie Avatar was an amazing work of cinema, visually astounding, breathtaking in scope and remarkable in it's achievements. To be fair the graphics technology on display and the sheer financial impact the movie had were considerable and I am not knocking either of those things. However after actually watching the movie I found Avatar to be little more than Dances With Wolves in space. The plot left a great deal to desire, as did the dialogue and I found the acting to be relatively wooden and uninspired. I know there will be some Avatar fans that hate me for expressing these thoughts but hey, that's how I felt actually watching the movie and I am happy to stand by these views because they are informed from experience, not by watching a reviewer I like make the judgement for me.

On the other side of the coin when I first saw the trailers for Fist Fight, a movie about an after-school brawl between two High School teachers played by Ice Cube and Charlie Day I found the concept somewhat amusing but figured there was no realistic way this movie could ever be anything other than garbage. Still when it popped up in Red Box I decided to rent it and check it out. While I don't think Fist Fight will ever enter the annals as one of the greatest achievements in film I can say the movie was far better than it had any right to be. With a supporting cast including Tracy Morgan, Cristina Hendricks, Kumail Nanjiani and Dean Norris the movie was funny, well paced, decently shot, the dialogue was believable and funny and none of the scenes dragged on for too long or failed to advance the story and the end result was as movie that on the whole I found deeply enjoyable and quite funny so in short: mission accomplished.

When you take the time to set preconceptions aside and actually take the time to investigate, experience or analyze something more in-depth the results can often be quite satisfying. You may accomplish nothing, your opinions might not change, or you might just waste an hour or two on a bad movie that everyone says is bad for all the right reasons but at least by taking the time and exerting the effort you work those mental muscles and practice the skills and discipline necessary to avoid intellectual and ideological complacency.

So remember, whenever possible, to accurately judge something, try to get to know it first.

Like what you've read? Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments!