Every individual, irrespective of their social status and cultural affiliation, is subjected to excessive condemnation and inclined to make hasty conclusions towards other people. Nevertheless, although some amount of criticism and skepticism is undoubtedly beneficial, the habit of being judgmental can give rise to dangerous and even dramatic consequences for both who condemn and who is blamed. Therefore, this paper aims to address the theme of the harmful outcomes of being judgmental via discussing the influence of familial and cultural traditions and considering different perspectives.
The feature of being judgmental can be evoked by various circumstances and reasons, including personal qualities and views, the surrounding community, family, and religious convictions. In particular, the first and primary environment where the ethical foundations are formed is a family that possesses its own distinctive outlook and traditions. From birth to adulthood, individuals have an intimate psychological connection with family members, especially with parents, which affects their behaviors overall.
Familial and social faiths, prejudices, relationships, customs, home atmosphere, and even language reflect individual personality. For example, in his study, Giordano concluded that profanity can inflict intellectual harm, particularly for children before the age of three, primarily due to the deficit of a healthy and active verbal environment (19). In this context, swearing can also produce increased aggressive behavior and hasty judgments towards other people accordingly. Besides, family traditions based on religions or ideologies can influence an individual’s thinking since some religions, such as Puritans or Calvinists, express more judgmental attitudes than others. It should be indicated that the surrounding society can amplify the effect exerted by the family environment concerning superfluous critical conduct. For example, in some minorities, a woman is placed in an utterly subordinate position, and any manifestations of female self-will or identity can be severely censured, up to the exile.
In this context, it is worth discussing the views of the prominent American writers, including Nathaniel Hawthorne and Flannery O’Connor, on the problem of being judgmental. The former is chiefly famous for many novels, including Young Goodman Brown, which caused a broad resonance not only in the USA but also in Europe. The book’s focus is placed on manic suspicion, intolerance, sin, and grace and depicting the moral character of his puritan.
In essence, the action takes place in puritanical New England of the 17th century. A young Salem man named Brown leaves his wife at night to meet in the forest with a mysterious demonic figure who calls him to perform an unclean rite in the night thicket. The young man hesitates whether to return to his young wife, but meets the townspeople hurrying to the night sabbath, among whom is his beloved. Having woken up in the morning, he cannot determine whether everything that happened was a reality or a vision, and he becomes unsociable and embittered, suspecting others of black deeds. His unfounded suspicion that spurs Brown to hasty, erroneous estimations about surrounding people totally destroys and obscures his later life that was full of faith and hope before the hike to the forest. The issue of intolerance and snap judgments also are presented in his other novels, for instance, The House of the Seven Gables, where Clifford spent 30 years in prison on a baseless murder charge. Thus, Hawthorne is bitterly critical for the acts of collective and individual judgmental behavior.
Throughout her literary career, Flannery O’Connor also concerns the theme of being judgmental. For example, her most famous novel A Good Man Is Hard to Find tells the tragic journey of Bailey’s family, including eight-year-old son John, daughter June, wife with a baby, and his mother, to Florida. The first erroneous decision is made by the grandmother when she insists on visiting an old plantation with a beautiful house, although the son and daughter-in-law do not want to turn aside. Moreover, the subject of incorrect, superficial judgment can be traced to the example of the grandmother’s view on herself. In particular, she considers herself excellent because she follows her high moral standards, but in fact, she is extremely disingenuous, selfish, judgmental. Her dissimulation can be clearly observed when she fervently pleads for her own life and completely forgets about her family and allows Misfit to kill them unhindered.
Lastly, concerning the habit of being judgmental, it is worth mentioning the core values of Saint Leo University. First, the value of excellence states, “All of us, individually and collectively, work hard to ensure that our students develop the character, learn the skills, and assimilate the knowledge essential to become morally responsible leaders” (Mission Statement). That is, the University strives for raising the genuine leaders, irrespective of an individual’s social status or other affiliation, that possess a full range of necessary skills. The second core value, Community, states that Saint Leo University creates a hospitable environment and promotes a spirit of interdependence and unity, and mutual trust. The last remarkable value is Respect implying that the University esteems individuals’ dignity and talents and builds its community’s strength on diversity and unity.
In summary, that paper has addressed the theme of the harmful consequences of being judgmental via discussing the influence of familial and cultural traditions and considering different perspectives. In particular, a family has the most significant effect on the development of personality, since individuals have a close mental connection with family members. Concerning the famous writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Flannery O’Connor bitterly disapprove of the manifestations of collective and individual judgmental behavior in their novels, including The Scarlet Letter and Wise Blood, respectively. Finally, it is worth noting that the habit of being judgmental produces adverse emotions and tends to worsen self-esteem, which ultimately influences the mental and physical health of a person.
Works Cited
Giordano, Frank. “The Relationship between Profanity and Intelligence.” Yale Review of Undergraduate Research in Psychology, vol. 6, 2016, pp. 16-20.
Mission Statement.Saint Leo University, Web.