Johnny Cochran was not the first to use the phrase – a rush to judgment. He is perhaps one of the better-known individuals to utter those words.
Unless of course, you are too young to know who Johnny Cochran was. And how that pains me to know that may be true.
I could make myself feel even older. The words are also the title of a 1966 book challenging the Warren Commission findings on President Kennedy’s assassination.
Enough of this age revelation stuff.
The phrase represents a circumstance when an individual makes a decision without possession of all the facts.
Doesn’t that sound like a typical day online?
Daily Rush to Judgment
Being non-judgmental is tougher than we think. Photoshopped images, headlines designed for shock value, and grab-the-news scans assault our senses daily.
We’d like to think we are fair-minded people. The noise that surrounds our lives can deafen us to the truth.
The most recent inspiration for my musings rose from a Facebook post. Someone shared a video of workers offering water and sliced apples to horses abandoned in the devastating fire in Middletown, California.
Soon critics took over the feel-good posting to blast the owners who left the horses behind. From the ugliness of negative comments emerged a voice of reason.
A former resident of the small, rural town blasted back. She reminded readers some owners were not at home. Others had minutes to escape the raging fires with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.
I know the area and its limited access in and out of the town. As the former resident explained, a simple trip to the nearest grocer takes an hour roundtrip. She chastised posters for getting on owners without having any knowledge of what they experienced.
Bravo.
Hold Our Breath
Personally, I find it distressing when I discover I made a snap judgment. The revelation typically follows the unearthing of information I had not known.
If only I held my breath instead of exhaling criticism – even if it was only in my mind.
Maybe that should become our response. We should hold our breath until we know the truth. And if we must exhale, we do so with the kindness from our hearts.
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I can think of a few politicians I’d like to see hold their breath that long!
LOL! I’m sure you can, Anne. 😀
So, the trick is NOT to worry about rush to judgment. It’s acquiring the wisdom to know when it’s needed and when it’s not.
If you saw the fire, then you’d want to rush to judgment and evacuate NOW. (Please don’t become a Katrina-like survivor in the Dome.)
But, for many other ideas, there is no need to act quickly- so there is no need for a quick judgment.
Once again, I bow to your superior point, Roy. I would dare to say it is the rare exception when something encountered online requires a rush to judgment. 😉
The anonymity of the online realm has made it all too possible for people to say what they think. That’s probably a better measure of their character than you’d find in a face-to-face setting, but I digress a bit.
Too much of it is happening — I agree. From politics to religion to news events that wouldn’t be news events without the Internet’s insistence that we care about who “slammed” whom or which celebrity is eating granola or making political statements….
It’s so much better, for me at least, to remember what my mother taught me: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, keep your clam trap shut.”
Mom is a feisty gal. 🙂
Lori, love your Mom’s spin on a classic. 😉