Use judgment when using judgments

Nouns get labeled as bad for different reasons, all of which have their origins in influence.

One person (or group of people) wants another person (or group of people) to avoid thinking, saying, or doing something that they dislike.

For example, a parent tells their kid that running with scissors is bad.

In actuality, the parent doesn’t like the child running with the scissors.

Even more specifically, the parent doesn’t like how they feel when they imagine the child tripping and falling on the scissors.

Rather than taking the time to explain this to their child, who may lack the empathy for her parent or the vocabulary to comprehend the situation in the first place, the parent just says, That’s bad.

Of course, moms and dads are protecting their children when they do this and the effect of sharing the incomplete version of their truth is that the child will probably avoid the potentially dangerous activity.

A side effect is that the little boys and girls will probably also tell other little boys and girls to avoid doing it.

On an even larger scale, kid by kid, it tips the culture in a direction away from running with scissors.

It’s easy to see the “good” in this.

But there is risk that comes with labeling nouns as bad.

Especially, when applied toward people.

Running with scissors is probably not a good idea, in my opinion. But a more slippery slope is the idea of not running with…

Those kinds of people.

Because it leads to ideas like…

Those kinds of people are bad.

Those kinds of people are evil.

And evil people should be punished.

Similar to the scissors, the original intention may be to protect. For some, it’s even easy to see the “good” in a few isolated examples.

Protecting a teenager from “bad” influences, even though it’s never that simple.

Protecting a toddler from a bully, while the bully is also trying to find her way in the world.

Putting static labels on people, places, and things often has an origin of benevolence.

But therein lies the seeds and fuel for racism, discrimination, and violence.

Those people, the ones that are different than you, are also people who have stories, feelings, and needs.

Those places, the ones that you’ve never been but have heard are bad, are also full of homes, packed with history, and house people who have stories, feelings, and needs.

Those things, that seem strange or wrong or bad, are also complex and dynamic, not simple and static.

So use your judgment when determining your judgments.

Saying something is bad isn’t bad, when you’re aware that you’re just marketing your belief and trying to change the world with a word.