What can you judge without having seen it read it etc.?

I wouldn’t judge the Hunger Games preemptively, but just from the trailers, it looks like something I would be into without knowing anything about it.

Something I would judge without knowing about it is a person who claimed they saw a ghost.

People. Just one look and I can sum a person, as to whether I like that person or not.

At a casino, I spotted this man, that I knew I did not like. Something about his demeanor that hit me the wrong way. He kept wandering around the casino floor and never stayed at one location for over two minutes.

Finally, my judgement of this person hit home. Security, for the casino, grabbed each arm and he was escorted out the front door.

I later discovered that he was hitting on the women for money.

It’s funny how you just know these things.

I think with movies it is quite easy to judge just by a trailer, and even just a movie cover. It is not a precise method, but as movies tend to work on formulas and trends you can still be right most of the time.

From seeing the trailer for The Hunger Games I would not rush out to watch it. I have no idea what it is about, but all I take away from the trailer is “arnold schwarzenegger in the running man meets post modern nazi look and lore, meets cgi, meets futuristic distopia”.

How can I judge without having seen it? Noone can. Fairly, anyway.

Without seeing anything or hearing anything about a subject, a situation, an event, a piece of media, or a piece of art (performing or visual), I can’t fairly judge it, as @marinelife pointed out.

Thankfully, there are little blurbs in the front of books, or there are reviews of all types of media. There are articles and reviews about everything imaginable. I can digest these and make informed judgements about my probable reaction to the real thing. Armed with tidbits from articles and reviews, I can judge.

I keep hearing about this “hungry games”. Is it like Candyland or something?

More like Battle Royale or The Running Man.

You can’t judge something without having seen it, read it, or whatever. The solution to the problem of not having enough time to see and read everything, then, is to not feel like you have to judge everything. It’s okay to say “I don’t know.”

Before I have seen something, I am completely unbiased. You wouldn’t want me to jeopardize my objectivity by seeing it, would you?

I can tell you I judge John Grisham’s book sight unseen. They are the only books I will buy without even reading the synopsis.

@john65pennington Your answer made me sad. You probably miss out on a lot of great people. I judge people on appearance as well, but I try to make a point of not letting my initial judgment get in the way of getting to know them. Sometimes I find my initial judgment was right on, but I’m often pleasantly surprised.

I started out judging the Hunger Games as just another Twilight kind of thing. But I’ve heard from some people who I trust that it’s quite good. I think I’ll see it.

@john65pennington Is also trained to recognize untrustworthy people. He’s a retired copper.

I can sort of judge a video game or a movie based on its premise, genre and what style it seems to take. But that ’‘judgement’’ can never be as accurate as the one I’ll have after going through the experience of playing/watching. And all it really is in the end, is just having played a lot of games and watched a lot of movies, so many times I know more or less what to expect. Especially with the horror genre, which doesn’t evolve as fast as other genres, or often sticks to well known formulas.

@Dutchess_III I know. I’ve been on Fluther a long long time, just under different names. I also believe that cops are often wrong about people. In this one case JP mentioned, he was right. Maybe it’s right most of the time. I just find it a bummer that someone, especially a police officer, believes he’s capable of judging people correctly by look.

@quiddidyquestions Let’s remember that John was also put off by the guy’s physical demeanor and constant walking around, not just his looks. Good points though, still. Cops are probably trained to pick up on ticks and stuff like that, but sometimes they make assumptions that just don’t fit the bill.

Oh @quiddidyquestions! Well, welcome back whoever you were! Yes, and I agree especially with your last point ”...believes he’s capable of judging people correctly by look.” Poor Trayvon is a perfect example of that.

What @SavoirFaire said. Period.

As the talking heads and pundits on TV and America’s news outlets so amply demonstrate, just about anything. However, the quality of the judgement is directly proportional to how deeply immersed said pundit has gotten in the subject material.

Yeah, a lot of times, I can read the back cover or the Wikipedia entry and know I won’t like it. I don’t need to know much more about Toddlers and Tiaras than the 3 minutes of ads I’ve seen to know I shouldn’t spend any more time on it. That’s ok. I can’t fully experience every experience before finding out if I want to spend time on it; some snap judgments are needed so that I can effectively utilize my time.

Its easy. If you have seen or prior works of the writer or director and each time you have been disappointed than its easy to assume that their material isn’t your cup of tea. So why would you waste more money on it?
Also some movies and or books wouldn’t be your cup of tea either. Even if its good. Some people hate sci-fi anything or biographies, or war stories. It may be great quality stuff, but if you hate that sort of thing than you probably won’t see that it is quality work. I hate all movies with Steven Segal. I think he blows as and actor. Who knows, maybe some day he will get a part in an excellent movie, but I couldn’t sit through 90 minutes of his ego and bad acting. Well not unleast I was paid to do so.
As for the Hunger Games, I was told he was a great movie. But I heard how the ending of the books go and I would have to say that it is not my cup of tea. I really don’t care for dark type movies. I’m not into Future Apocalyptic type of movies. Actually, any movie where torture is suppose to be some sort of game in its society would never be my cup of tea. For me there is enough cruelities in the real world. I don’t need it as entertainment.
These things exist already. There are countries where people are forced to kill their neighbors or brothers and sisters or parents as to stay alive or to save someone they care for.

@Pandora I was going to say the same thing about writers and directors, but want to add that applies to actors too because they tend to pick the movies that fit them. I know enough about Will Ferrell and the Coen brothers that I won’t watch any of their movies and know that I will watch anything with Sean Connery or Johnny Depp in it. I never want to experience another Will Ferrell movie, ever, and will not try again and again when the pattern of idiocy is obvious.

If there’s a pattern, I usually follow the pattern but with a knowledge that patterns can be broken. I didn’t like Depp in “Open Window,” but love most of his movies.

N.A.M.B.L.A. no need to even go there.

@Coloma I had to look that up, saw the heading title, didn’t need to open the Wiki. Point greatly made.

I know that Margaret Thatcher naked is a sight no man should ever have the misfortune of seeing…...I just know this.

Don’t we judge everything before reading or seeing it? How else do we choose which book to read or which movie to see?

That said, not all judgments carry the same weight.

@Nimis I often just pick books off the shelves at random at my library. That said, following an intuition that you’ll probably like x better than y is not judging in the same way that saying x is good and y is bad would be judging. Perhaps the same faculty of mind is involved, but the act itself is different. Also, making judgments that you will probably like x better than y requires some amount of knowledge about x and y. Thus it’s not a totally cold reading. It allows for educated guessing, but it does justify much more than that.

What @Pandora said.
I agree with the vast majority of you.
There is confusion about the artfulness of presenting an idea and the idea itself. Hunger Games took a nano second to see that that goes in the garbage bin.