I would not support Anthony Weiner for dog catcher in a town without dogs.
However, I have no problem with his decision to involve himself in this heated exchange with a voter at a Brooklyn deli on Wednesday. In addition to questioning Weiner’s character, the voter makes a racially charged statement about his wife, which makes the mayoral candidate’s decision to turn and engage the voter understandable and justified in my mind.
It’s what Weiner says annoys the hell out of me.
Weiner’s response to the man’s comments is to question the his right to judge him in the first place?
“You’re my judge? You’re my judge? What rabbi taught you that? What rabbi taught you that you’re my judge?”
“You have no right to judge me.”
“That’s not for you to judge? You’re perfect? You’re going to judge me? You’re a superior man to me? Where do you get the morality to judge me? You have shown no signs of being superior to me and you are not my God so you have no authority to judge me.”
The assertion that a person has no right to judge another is illogical, idiotic and naïve. The idea that one must be superior to another or perfect in order to judge another is even more stupid.
The idea that a voter is not permitted to judge a candidate who is running for political office is the most stupid of all.
But even is Weiner was not a public or political figure, the idea that one person has no right to judge another is simply ridiculous. It’s an assertion often made by people guilty of the transgression to which they are being judged and by idiots.
Human beings judge one another constantly. It’s our way of determining who we can trust, who we can depend upon, who we should befriend, who we should avoid and who can rely upon when in need. It’s the way we form our tribes. It’s why certain people are invited into our circles of association while others are not.
Judging people is the reason that most of us don’t stop and chat with prostitutes on street corners. It’s the reason we tend to gravitate toward effective and genial people at work while avoid others. It’s the reason we nudge our children away from the kids on the playground who seem unruly, disrespectful or unsupervised. It’s the reason we rightfully question the intelligence of a person displaying a Confederate flag from the rear window of their pickup truck. It’s the reason our friends tend to share many of our same values and beliefs.
We judge people all the time, and we do not need to believe that we are superior to a person in order to do so.
I see a muscle-bound behemoth in designer clothing and an expensive watch park his Humvee on the curb at the gym even though there is an empty parking spot at the end of the lot, and I know that he and I are probably not friendship material.
Could my judgment be wrong? Possibly. But there is nothing wrong with making an initial assumption. There is nothing wrong with casting judgment upon another person based upon his or her words and deeds.
To imply otherwise is asinine.
It is not unreasonable for me to think that Anthony Weiner and would not be friendship material based upon his marital transgressions. It is not unreasonable for me to question his moral fortitude and decision-making skills based upon his recent actions. It’s not wrong of me to doubt his ability to lead based upon his history with Twitter and his penis.
I am judging you, Anthony Weiner, and I have no qualms about you judging me. It’s what we do as human beings. It’s expected. It’s recommended.
The guy who confronted you in the deli was a jerk (I’m judging him, too), but hiding behind the idea that people have no right to judge you, especially while you are running for mayor, is almost as stupid as sending photographs of your penis to strange women via Twitter.
