Friday, October 1, 2010

The wonderful idea of "Suspending Judgment"

I like the idea that you can “suspend judgment”.  I think a lot of people feel pressured to have an opinion or stance on every little thing.  It is ok to be passionate, but really irritating when people get on their high-horse about subjects they are barely familiar with just because of what they heard someone else say about it.  A lot of the time professors can influence people in this way, because students are prone to thinking every single thing that they are being taught is true and not realizing that the information they are receiving is being shaped by their professor’s opinions.   Sometimes, students who take a class with a spirited professor will come away with a bunch of radical ideas, with nothing to back them up but the word of their professor. 
I think as a country we would be better if we opted for the “suspend judgment” option more often.  Passing judgment when you do not have enough or reliable information to back yourself up is a common error.  This is why racism and gossip, two major judgments, are so prevalent in the US.  If we could just be a little more patient and collect as much data as possible before passing these kind of judgments, then people could get along much better. 

4 comments:

  1. Hey, I liked your post on suspending judgement because it explains the negatives and positives on it. It is true that it is okay to suspend judgment than to pass judgement because it only leads to racism and gossip. They are two common judgments that occur a lot in society. Also, since professors are suppose to teach their students, students will often assume that they are right since they are their teachers. However, sometimes it is fine to think about what the professor has claimed and think about it thoughtfully. However, it is hard since we are sometimes impatient and follow our own beliefs. We can work better as a whole if we just sit it out and think about it.

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  2. Wouldn’t it be nice if the world worked this way? I believe that ‘suspending judgment’ would go a long way in promoting tolerance and understanding – which would aid in defeating racism. Besides, taking things on face value is relinquishing the ability to think and resolve for ourselves. If we do not have a good reason to accept or reject information that is being presented to us, then we should hold off making a decision until we become more informed. I agree that there are many who are quick to form opinions, solely based on the ‘assumed’ expertise of others. That’s why a well-rounded education is vital to effective reasoning.

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  3. I found this post very interesting. I agree that at times, we as college students just accept every piece of information we are given in class as true, even though sometimes, it is far from the truth. Also people make judgments without the proper amount of information many times. What you said about racism and gossip coming from passing judgment instead of suspending judgment is true. Many times people will pass judgment on certain ethnic groups or individuals based on what they heard from someone else. They judge people even though they are not aware of what the truth is.

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  4. I totally agree, with you in the suspended arguments topic. I also agree, that most of the time students take everything that their prophesiers say to heart. This is when all these strong ignorant arguments come to life. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion but it is best that they become well informed of what they believe in before they just open their mouths and make a nonsense argument based on what they have heard rather on what they have researched. Another important point to this is that people should just be open minded to new ideas. Suspended Judgment is what everyone should have rather than having a closed mind.

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