Snap Judgment

Snap judgments are great when you’re stepping off the curb and an oncoming bus says get back on the sidewalk. The ideas that snap judgments are natural from a scientific perspective are most certainly true. However, since they are born from the seeds of cynicism, skepticism and pure doubt the plant is dead on arrival before the flower can bloom. When we see someone that does not fit our expectation or pattern of acceptability, we reject that individual without any shred of tangible evidence. We make the judgment from their countenance or from the fabric of their clothes.

We have been ingrained with strobe like indoctrination that ‘different’ when it comes to a member of society trying to rise up gets shot down before they can even open their mouth where the face of their soul lives. When our society sees a minority with a history of betrayal and prejudice, we are certainly there to over react if necessary to see they get a fair and equitable chance at life. That same reaction when that outcast tries to claim equality without any help from us, we shun them naturally.
From the New York Times article, the idea that we create exclusion because it is “inherent in the mind”, is true just like a tomato left in the refrigerator for a month turns rotten. The modern world indeed has increased its collective awareness of prejudices and the road to pre conceived impressions are well on their way to eventual banishment to Coventry. But when it comes down to appearance prejudice lives and feeds like the fatted calf because no one has picked up the mantle that grey hair and a little extra girth around the middle can allow entry into the land of the beautiful and revered especially when it comes to the entertainment world.
When Simon Cowell and his panel of judges and Britain Has Talent audience were panned the same wordless face said, “yeah right”. Prejudice lives. It is just hiding under a different rock, the one of snap judgment. Looks do matter has as much value as the dollar bill because someone says it has value. It has no backing only because someone says so is how we navigate our world. Looks do matter especially when you’re the one looking in the mirror and measuring us with society’s yardstick. We can never “measure up” because there is always someone prettier, more handsome, stronger or more provocative. When the light goes on in the kitchen, the roaches scatter and disperse but it doesn’t mean that the coast is clear and we can keep on believing we can hold onto that prejudice just because we cannot define it ethnically, by race, creed or sexual persuasion. We have to let go of all prejudice lest we halt our journey of total acceptance of those different than us. The idea that it’s ‘okay’ to react with pre judgment would have kept the sitting president out of office and Sean Penn from winning an Academy Award. But wait, that’s different! No my friend, it’s not different, it’s the same thing with a different mask, and I just checked the calendar, it’s not Halloween.