Victims of Judgement
After seeing Matt Walsh’s movie, Am I a Racist?, I was perplexed by the self-hating white women. Where did these people come from and why did they value such hatred? Anti-racist advocates end up being racists. Others end up hating themselves. Worse, why would people pay thousands of dollars to promote such hate? What is the real value here?
The reality is people fear being judged. To correct this, some will obsess in judging themselves with the “should’ve, could’ve, would’ves”. And others find great power in judging other people. Aesop's Fables have many lessons and the story of the Man, Boy, and the Donkey shows the power of judgment in manipulating people (https://fablesofaesop.com/the-man-the-boy-and-the-donkey.html). People try to live up to the expectations of others but in doing so, they are manipulated to discard their own thoughts. Much judgment is about guilt-tripping and gaslighting people (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilt_trip and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting) which is emotionally destructive.
Judging to the point of defaming others is common in politics during election cycles. There is broad tolerance and disdain for it at the same time. Yet, too often it is toxic in relations of family, friends and neighbors.
An opposing and thoughtful parable is the parable of six blind men and an elephant (https://www.learnreligions.com/six-blind-men-and-the-elephant-1770380). Learning about the world is difficult therefore it is best to restrain judgment for our judgment is likely to be wrong and unfair. In addition, while people can be harmed by judgement, people judge out of mere habit. So what is the solution? What is the antidote? The Bible has much to say about judging (https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-on-judging/).
A Methodist Episcopal preacher Mary T. Lathrap explained it in a poem "Judge Softly" (https://libertyandprosperity.com/judge-softly-walk-a-mile-in-his-moccasins-by-mary-t-lathrap-1895/).
The impact has been so extensive, the synthpop industrial rock group Depeche Mode made a song of the concept: Walking in My Shoes. Perhaps the concept needs more airing in the public square.