Judging Book Covers

When you walk into a bookstore or library, you see hundreds of books. You can’t tell me that you look through every book, before you decide what to buy or borrow. So instead you look at covers, read titles to see which one would appeal to you most. Out of hundreds of books, you only pick a few to actually look through. Well the same rule applies to people. We interact with too many people daily to actually get to know them all, so we judge based on appearances, just like we do with books.

I’m not talking about race or gender, I’m talking about the clothes we choose to wear and the people we decide to hang out with. But is judging people based on appearances always a bad thing? Not only are there too many people to get to know, there is another reason why we judge people because of the clothes they wear or the people they associate with;

You choose what appearance to present

Everyone wears their own clothes, whether you wear a suit or jeans and a simple t-shirt, your choosing how you want to be presented, you picked out what you’d put on for the day. Why wouldn’t I judge you based on your clothes?

But judging people based on their appearances or a social group isn't always a good thing, if we judged everyone we saw, how would we find friends? According to researchers, first impressions are very important, they are easily formed, difficult to change, and have a long-lasting influence. Researchers also state that when you meet someone for the first time, only 7% of their impression of you is based on what you say, 38% on how you say it and 55% on your appearance and matter. So who says what you wear isn’t important? Judging people on the spot can make people choose wrong choices, it can cause people to misread others and situations, we jump to quick conclusions which can lead us to make unwise decisions that we may regret. People jump to quick judgments because they have been judged themselves entirely on how they look, which makes them feel entitled to do the same.

Another reason we judge people based on their clothes and friends, is because of the influence of celebrities and technology. Teenagers idolize the people in magazines; they are encouraged that everyone should and can look ‘perfect’, not realising that many of the models displayed have bucket loads of makeup and have been photoshopped so much to look ‘flawless’ that they don’t even look like themselves. Then society judges the people that don’t look like the people in the magazines, the people that don’t wear tight clothes and loads of makeup and can’t afford the latest fashions.

In a perfect world nobody would judge by appearance. Well the worlds not perfect and neither are the people. Although it would be a lot more useful to look beyond clothing, to see people for whom they really are. Instead of relying on assumptions based on unimportant things like the clothes we wear; everyone continues to judge, because its not so easy to just stop thinking the way we do, to turn off our early warning system. Because in a way it can be useful, to give an impression of an individual’s character before speaking to them, but is it right or wrong?

I think it is wrong. I think that by categorizing someone because of a tattoo or a piercing or even a sign of the cross is unfair, there is no way anyone can understand someone without talking to them first, Someone who has tattoos might once have been in a band but things change and people change, and that person could end up as a loving parent. But would you find someone with tattoos from head to toe working as a Teacher or a Doctor? Would you trust to leave your child with someone who looks like this, or give private information about yourself to him or her? Today’s society is based on stereotypes, and that can’t be changed easily. Within the first three seconds of a new encounter, we evaluate someone. Even with just a glance.

Whether you wear formal dress daily or just unironed clothes you pulled from your drawers. People express their individuality through their clothes, who are we to judge people for who they choose to be? We all have reasons for dressing like we do, whether we’re influenced by today’s celebrities, our family and friends, or we just can’t afford to keep up with the constantly changing trends, we all have reasons, and nobody can really understand that unless they’ve been in their shoes. So judge people how you would like to be judged, treat people with respect, no matter their clothes or friends because everyone needs to start realising that No One Is Perfect.