Saturday, January 25, 2020

Characteristics vs. Character: Judgment


Working on a project and I was trying to describe the pitfalls and blindspots of using personal characteristics as a judgment of overall character. I suggested using a blind jury to look at different characters to determine whether they were good or not... helpful to society or a danger. Off the top of my head, I used a series of well-known ppl and their backstory...

Character A
-misogynist
- racist...like WILDY racist
-heavy drinker/smoker
- corpulent glutton
- fits of anger and rage, stubborn
- stubbornness/incompetence resulted in tens of thousands of deaths
Character A is Winston Churchill...someone who, arguably helped save Western Democracy during its darkest hour.

Character B
- strong racist until his late 30s
- presumed hypocrite
- vegetarian
- still racist at the end of his life toward certain ppl
- accused sexual predator...many times over again
Character B is Mahatma Gandhi

Character C
- artist
- naturist
- lover of well-rounded liberal arts education
- believed in classics
- gave power to women
- late-life vegetarian who couldn't stand to see animals suffer.
- racist...WILDLY racist
- but religious
- non-drinker, non-smoker
Character C is Adolf Hitler

Character D
- philanderer
- accused of sexual assault many times
- accused of rape
- heavy drinker
- vain, venal
- hated toward the end of his life
Character D is Martin Luther King Jr or...Ted Kennedy..or JFK.

Character E
- recovering alcoholic, man of faith, never cheated on wife
- possibly tricked into war which killed millions
- but also knowning instituted program which saved millions
Character E is George W. Bush...arguably a war criminal or just really dumb...or some combination of both.

Question: Are these models enlightening or offensive? They aren't meant to condemn great men or prop up monsters, but to serve as examples of the complex nature of judging character qualities, personal intent, and societal impact...especially when it comes to social media/online presence. But I don't know b/c some ppl might find describing MLK or Gandhi in such terms as an attempt to knock them down (it's not).

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