The arsonist lights a bushfire. Great judgement rains down on this act and its perpetrator. The act and the person are as one. And we might say “but there’s a difference between the one who is guilty and the other who is not”. But it makes no difference. Most of us have lost our sense of fairness, we judge with a knee-jerk reaction and without careful consideration, and therefore without fairness.
To judge is a weighty business. The professional judge and the judicial process can spend months and cost millions of dollars, just to get to a decision, namely the judgement of a person’s guilt or non-guilt. So much depends on this sort of judgement (the possibility of taking away their freedom). The result of the amateur judgement may result from us being too quick to condemn. It’s the negative value judgement that can be so damaging, so whether I am an arsonist or a meat eater or doing something you disapprove of, I’m given no chance to defend myself because you have given yourself no time to make sure your judgement is fair.
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