DUELING COLUMN: Your Morals Do Determine Your Politics, Actually

Sergey Podlesnykh/Staff Writer

I don’t approve of judging. Most times, it is based on inductive inferences that fall in the fallacious bin of hasty generalizations. However, when it comes to political affiliations, I have an alternative approach. We don’t really judge someone’s character based on their political beliefs. Rather, their character and morals predetermine that political affiliation. Prove me wrong.

It’s one thing to make an assumption of someone based on their origin, ethnicity, age or gender. We don’t choose to be born in a certain locality, and we have no control over who our parents are. Gender features don’t ultimately predetermine your preferences, and age is only a number. It is wrong to judge a person over something they have no control over. But we are not born with political beliefs pre-wired in our brains. We develop our personalities and accumulate unique sets of values and morals and at some point in our lives, and then decide which way we lean politically, based on how we feel.

We don’t really judge someone’s character based on their political beliefs. Rather, their character and morals predetermine that political affiliation.

I can’t judge a person based on their political affiliation, because the person already made that judgement themselves, and put it on display for all to see.

Realities of the highly politicized world we live in today make matters worse. It doesn’t help when every little decision, every routine action becomes a political statement. Still, these are decisions that represent our mentality — our core values. If a person trusts cold-hard facts more than pseudoscience and conspiracy theories, they are more likely to wear a mask during a pandemic. If I believe women were created equal to men, I likely believe they have a right to choose, and therefore Roe v Wade makes sense to me.

Here’s a more extreme example. Let’s play Jeopardy. The category is “Judgmental, Much?” for 200.

John tells his daughter to be careful at school, because all those Mexican boys in her class are “up to no good.” John believes the “China-virus” was carried over by “nasty” Asians, created with the only goal to take away our freedoms and impose mandatory masks on everybody. John knows climate change is a hoax because summers are hot (duh), and it will soon get colder as we inch closer to wintertime. John likes shooting his rifle and believes guns are indistinguishable from the American culture. Who will John vote for on November 3?

Of course, that example is for kicks and giggles, but every joke is half true. Our political leaning is not something that was imposed on us, regardless of our principles and beliefs. In a way, our political affiliation represents our inner essence.

We are all different, unique human beings. We are complex, and one distinctive feature shouldn’t predetermine our total perception — I couldn’t agree more there. Being independent or non-partisan means you might have different views on different issues that make it so much harder to precisely identify your political affiliation. However, leaning conservative or liberal, Democratic or Republican means that your multiple distinctive features correlate with the values of the named affiliation.

If your beliefs are strong enough, you will ultimately place yourself in a certain camp. “Judging” someone for that placement is merely restating the facts about their values, which put them there. 

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The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.

Photo by Jana Shnipelson on Unsplash.