Amazing how critical judgement, in 21st century New Zealand at least, seems to relate less to whatever shortcoming for which the judgement is being made and more, to the background or current social positioning of the person being judged.
This week’s theory therefore, pertains to the fact that this typically, guilty-until-proven-innocent nation of ours, tends to base its assessments of our peers on reputation of character, rather than sincerity of soul.
The aforementioned popularity contest, as I see it is a ridiculous and totally erroneous way of gauging a person’s genuine goodness or indeed, their likeability, but is likely the reason that so much irrational and unjust condemnation exists within New Zealand…
It ought to be noted, for the record, I am no different. Like most Generation Xers (although technically I’m three years short – 1960 to ’80 – my usual cohort was quintessentially Gen X) that’s how I was raised, schooled and ultimately, how I was taught to be. In recent years though, given how much unfair judgements and particularly, double-standards have irked me then upon realising that in fact I am little better than those people I’d grown to detest, I have endeavoured to make some amendments regarding the way I perceive the world and its people therein.
…Schoolyard judgement is one thing; cruel as it can be for some while other ostensibly similar parties are blindly revered based solely on their living situations or who their parents are, from experience, and many will surely disagree, is largely a character-building experience and in most cases I think not entirely detrimental.
It’s in later life when those idiot prepubescents are supposed to have developed some level of maturity but still carry on as though the more booze they can sink at the pub while raving about how much more of their lives they intend to waste before doing something productive then ejaculating further torrents of verbal bullshit about nothing in particular and obviously the more slovenly they can look while doing this the more respected they will be among their peers…
Just to be clear, male orientated as the above ordeal might sound, this example does definitely include women.
…These are the kinds of small-minded Generation Xers who, I believe are, perhaps partially maybe wholly, responsible for leading the world, or at least the nation, down its shadowy path of unfair judgement, double standard and essentially, negativity.
I mentioned it in a past post – one of the Maturity pieces I think – ‘…without self assessment there is no way a person can hope to improve themselves.’
This 21st century New Zealand, this 21st century world, I think, I believe, I hypothesize, has become so highly critical of one another based on factors that often cannot be shifted that given time, should we neglect to amend our ways, my theory states that New Zealand’s – that planet Earth’s – people as a whole will become a very bitter people indeed.
Take a step back and look at how we’re treating each other.
Article by Tim Walker
Edited by Jen X/ Poppy L A Shinn
Photography by Judge Mint L Whirl