Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Orkut Judgementalism
Something I realized today while orkutting (I hate the stupid thing..hate it too much to even wanna bother quitting..it's really annoying, the blue) is that the first thing I look at while checking out a profile, even before the 'about me' column, is the books the person reads. It's a strange sort of judgementalism (is that a word? think so..). Nothing intentional. It's not like I judge people by the books they read, or calculate their intelligence in light of the books they read, or evaluate people according to how intelligent the books they read reflect them to be. All right..maybe a teensy-weensy bit. But it's not the 'being judgemental' that arouses my interest tonight (or to-morning..aah, good old today: sorry, I'm bored). It's the 'being judgemental so naturally' that surprises me. It's almost like I'm trained to do it. Open a profile page, scroll down to books, and either dismiss the person as being an idiot, or deem the person worthy of conversation entered into by yours truly. Now, don't get me wrong here. It's not like I'm trying to say that I've read all the best books ever written, or that I've got an undisputably good taste in books. It's just a weird sense of labelling what I like as the 'right books', which ought to have been read. Especially if I know you through Orkut and Orkut alone. Even if I know you, your books column will help me form my final judgement of you. It's kinda unfair, I know. It makes me feel a little guilty also, every time I do it. I ought to give people a chance even if they don't read what I think is 'intelligent'. But then, do people who read badly-written, facile nonsense deserve a chance? Oh..oops...
5 comments:
Interesting as it is; let me also say that it might be highly unfair to yourself. Cryptic as it might sound, you need to give yourself a chance ;-). Allright, in plain simple words, while all of us do judge people based on our "judgement criterion", whatever works for you, works for you; if you regret it later on, well too bad; if you don't, good. :-D
Aah..don't worry bout me..it's not as serious as it sounds. I'm not particularly critical bout myself when it comes to me:-)
Btw apologies for the delayed response to your "do I know you" .. I hope you did read the response though since it was in a blog from aeons ago.
Oh no, I am not worried about you. But since you even thought to bring this up just wanted to say that any criteria (including no criteria) is good enuff. It's a part & parcel of who/what you are.
really imagine if i started judging people by the music they listened to....where would you be!? :D but I invariably glance at the books and music section in profiles too...I think its a way of judging how intellectual the person is, and I admit it...
Notice that I don't have a music column on my profile:-)
No..but really, that's the point I guess. We look for different things in ppl, and my eyes automatically wander to what I'm gonna judge a person by. Very shady a way of judging ppl, but well, I suppose they're willing to be judged if they're on a public forum listing out their favourites
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