That is a very good question and whether it’s right or not, the human condition means that we certainly do judge people. In fact, it’s part of our survival instinct to “judge” others.
These days we talk about tribalism as though it’s a bad thing, and sometimes it is, but there was a time (and I’d argue there still is), where if you make a bad judgement call about someone, you’d place yourself and your family at risk by admitting them into ‘the tribe’.
So yeah, we do judge others by a whole heap of criteria and that includes the company they keep.
Which brings me to the reason I’m at the keyboard with this subject at the forefront of my mind.
Yesterday, I caught up with an old mate from years ago and we shared a few Laphroaig Islay single malt whiskies as we chatted about old times; you know, ‘the good old days’. He’d had an involvement in a regional TV channel in the 1990s and he reminded me about a video of a segment from a TV show from one of the other regional channels he’d shown me to get some feedback.
I remembered the incident only too well because it was just garbage in my view and I said so. Very average production values and it looked like what it was: a bunch of students running amok with a camera pretending to make television. Sadly, it was a precursor of things to come. It was supposed to be funny and entertaining and perhaps to young people back then it was, but I’ve never seen any value in exposing people to personal ridicule for the sake of entertainment. It’s something that doesn’t sit too well with me. Old fashioned I know. Silly old fuddy duddy.
The producers of this segment proudly proclaimed that it
“…tracks down hung-over, sleepy tertiary students making their way home from someone else’s bed after a hard night out.
“Not thinking too clearly in startlingly clear light of day, the students are easy targets for searching questions.
“Hilarious and spontaneous television.”
Yes, I know, riveting stuff. If you’re into that kind of thing.
It was actually sleazy, sensational rubbish designed to shock in order to get the publicity and capture an audience with absolutely no regard for the effects on those caught and exposed. Today, you might well see the producers confronted by #MeToo. It is a form of abuse.
But to get back to the point, again, proudly recorded by the producers themselves:
The infamous “Walk Of Shame” …. a segment so famous that its been covered at [sic] by national broadcasters, and so famous that it still attracts publicity.
And why the interest? Mostly because this one small segment probably horrifies some moral censors.
The brainchild of a former New Zealand Broadcasting School student, now a presenter on music station C4, Clarke Gayford.
Yes, this goes back a long time to the 1990s – but leopards and spots and all that…
Is it right to judge people by the company they keep?
I do it all the time. Call me old fashioned but it tells me ‘stuff’ about people.
Someone once said: “Trust your intuition, it’s usually right”.
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