Properly Assigning Blame (and Responsibility)

“No one should be judged solely by the worst thing they’ve ever done.”

I don’t know who originally said that. I heard it in the context of prison reform and it resonates into so many other parts of life.

Think about the worst thing you ever did. Would it be fair to say that’s all of who you are?

Think about the dumbest answer you ever gave. Have you learned more since then? Would you give a new answer now?

The culture of soundbites and “15 minutes of fame” leads to Blinkist-style summaries of long, thoughtfully written books and two-dimensional narratives about a person’s life story, leaving out necessary (and trivial) complexities that fill out the millions of seconds and minutes they are here on this earth.

How fair is it to accept a negative characterization as the truth - the whole truth - about another person?

Of course, the inverse is also true. How fair is it to accept a heroic characterization about someone you admire as everything there is to know about them?