The Impacts of Being Judgmental
Being judgmental is concerned with passing a critical and harsh judgment of other people’s behaviors or actions. Often, individuals are judgmental of other people because of their self-doubt. Most times, being judgmental is a defence mechanism that individuals use to protect themselves from characters that would be a bad influence or who would harm them. Additionally, under most circumstances, judgmental thoughts are normally misdirected and wrong. Moreover, conveying these judgmental thoughts to the targeted party might also raise self-doubt and insecurities in the judgmental and the targeted person (Peck). Therefore, what are the dangers of being judgmental? The dangers posed by being judgmental affect both the judgmental person and other people being judged; they can cause insecurities and hurt or pain from the judgment.
On a previous occasion, I had made a new acquaintance; the person appeared too happy as they always smiled and laughed with friends and strangers. As I looked at the person, I thought that their life must be wonderful based on their excitement and disliked them. Little did I know that it is not always as it seems. By the end of the day, the new acquaintance was intoxicated and on drugs; this changed my perspective, and I concluded that the person was a people pleaser and a drug addict. As I spoke to the person later in the night, the person spoke up about their feelings. It was made clear to me that the person felt lonely and sad, leading to drug abuse and pretenses. Subsequently, I discovered my judgmental thoughts were misplaced, and the person needed a friend. The use of drugs was used to cover the feelings the person had. I knew I couldn’t be the only person with such thoughts, and this drove me to the conclusion that misjudging people occurs all the time, and the negative impacts radiate around the people around us without even being aware.
In the story “Young Goodman Brown,” he was judgmental against the leaders of the church, such as the Deacon and the Catechist. Initially, he judged them to be God-fearing and spiritual people, but as he walked through the forest and saw them and heard them talk, he knew he had misjudged them. Furthermore, he got on that same path, knowing that it was evil, and even though he tried to convince himself to turn back, he didn’t and even joined the meeting where he was converted in the presence of his wife, Faith. Additionally, people he thought wouldn’t be involved in such evil activities, such as the Governor’s wife, were present. This discovery of the people involved in the evil activities allowed him to discover how he wrongly judged the people to be good and spiritual while they were practicing evil activities. Subsequently, when he got back to their town, Young Goodman Brown behaved differently towards everyone he came across, especially those he had seen in the meeting. He now judged them based on where he had seen them without conversing with them about their involvement in such activities. Young Goodman Brown was part of the same activities, yet he thought everyone else was evil, excluding himself. Consequently, because of his new behavior, he died a dejected man, which affected everyone around him because not even one hopeful verse was read at his funeral in accordance with his gloominess (Hawthorne and Harding).
The story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” focuses on the grandmother. The grandmother was very judgmental; she judged her son and his children based on their behavior. Her grandchildren were also very judgmental as they described people and things exactly as they thought. June Star says that Bobby Lee reminds her of a pig when they ran into the escaped criminals. The grandmother’s judgmental nature misleads her into thinking that the Misfit is a good man, and eventually, the criminals kill the entire family. Furthermore, the grandmother is killed by the Misfit himself, who shoots her three times. Not only was the grandmother deceptive and judgmental, but she was also self-righteous. As she discusses the changing times with Red Sam, it is clear that she sees herself and her generation better than everyone else, illustrating her judgmental nature. She also hails at the car with the criminals, thinking that the people in that car are good people who would help them. The result is the entire family’s death (O’Connor and Groff).
From the examples listed above, it is clear that being judgmental impacts the judgmental person and the people around them. Normally, judgmental people tend to hide their insecurities in other people’s actions (Holmes, 678). Consequently, when they see bad traits that they possess in other people, they tend to judge them harshly. By doing this, they are projecting their behavior on other people as a form of defense mechanism, and being judgmental causes awkward moments and discomfort among the parties involved (Peck). The dangers of being judgmental vary, but the most dominant is its impact on the parties involved, who might develop self-doubt and may also hurt individuals’ feelings.
In conclusion, people being judgmental leads to inaccurate conclusions about individuals. In the story “Young Goodman Brown,” Goodman judged the sinful people as good and spiritual while the reality was different. Additionally, in the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the grandmother judged the criminals to be good people while they weren’t, leading to the killing of the entire family. Therefore, the impacts of being judgmental vary from mild to fatal. Mild impacts lead to hurting people’s feelings and creating uncomfortable situations, as illustrated in the story from my experience, while destructive impacts are illustrated in the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” where an entire family was killed ruthlessly. Subsequently, it is advisable to work on the insecurities people possess to prevent projecting them onto others. This resolution will reduce the risks that come with the nature of being judgmental.
Work Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, and Brian Harding. Young Goodman Brown And Other Tales.
Holmes, David S. “Projection As A Defense Mechanism.”. Psychological Bulletin, vol 85, no. 4, 1978, pp. 677-688. American Psychological Association (APA), doi:10.1037/0033-2909.85.4.677. Accessed 31 Mar 2021.
O’Connor, Flannery, and Lauren Groff. A Good Man Is Hard To Find.
Peck, Danni. “Why Am I Being Judgmental | Betterhelp”. Betterhelp.Com, 2009, https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/general/why-am-i-being-judgmental/.
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Question 
Module 4
Crime and Punishment
Review the Strategy Questions for Organizing Your Argument Essay in the “Creating an Informal Outline” section of Chapter 5,and then write a 1000-word response to the following question: What are the dangers of being Judgmental?.
The Impacts of Being Judgmental
In order to write a 1000-word response to such a short question, you’ll need to include a variety of sources and perspectives. Incorporate the following into your paper:
- your first-hand experiences
- evidence gathered from stories in this module, particularly drawn from characters in the Hawthorne and O’Connor texts
- researched scholarly insight into why people are quick to judge
- our Core Values of Excellence and/or Integrity
You are encouraged to complete a first draft of the assignment then revise your work.Submit the assignment to the Assignment box no later than Sunday 11:59 PM EST/EDT.(The Assignment box may be linked to Tumitin.)
Please also check the two videos about the module and this particular assignment below.