Why We’d Rather Judge Than Understand

In Malaysia, we have an incredible national talent that rarely gets recognised: the ability to judge a situation within three seconds, armed with absolutely no context, no facts, and sometimes not even the full video. It’s a remarkable skill. Olympic-level, really.

Someone posts a 20-second clip online and suddenly everyone becomes a judge, jury, and part-time moral philosopher. By the time the actual story surfaces—usually a week later—the verdict has already been delivered, the comments section has exploded, and half the country has moved on to the next outrage.

Understanding takes time. Judging takes WiFi.

And Malaysians, like much of the internet, prefer the faster option.

Take any viral incident. A stranger shouts in a shop. Instantly, thousands of online experts appear. “Typical attitude.” “This is why society is collapsing.” “People nowadays no manners.” Amazing analysis for a situation no one actually witnessed from beginning to end.

But context? That’s boring. Context requires patience, listening, and sometimes the uncomfortable possibility that the story is more complicated than we want it to be.

Judgment, on the other hand, is emotionally satisfying. It allows people to feel morally superior while sitting comfortably behind a phone screen. It’s the easiest way to feel wise without doing any actual thinking.

Malaysian social media thrives on this formula. Post something slightly controversial and watch the comment section transform into a courtroom drama. Everyone suddenly speaks with the authority of a philosopher who has spent years studying human behaviour, even though their source of information is a blurry screenshot.

The irony is that most of us have experienced the opposite side of this problem. We know what it feels like to be misunderstood, misquoted, or judged unfairly. Yet when it’s someone else in the spotlight, empathy disappears faster than free kuih at an office meeting.

Why?

Because understanding requires effort. You have to slow down. You have to ask questions. You might even have to admit that your first assumption was wrong. And nothing frightens the internet more than the possibility of being wrong.

Judging avoids all that discomfort. It’s quick, confident, and extremely addictive.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: a society that judges faster than it understands becomes shallow very quickly. Conversations turn into accusations. Discussions become shouting matches. Nuance disappears entirely.

Malaysia doesn’t lack opinions. If anything, we have an overproduction problem. What we lack is the willingness to pause before reacting.

Because sometimes the smartest response is not the loudest one.

Sometimes it’s simply asking: “What actually happened?”

But that requires curiosity.

And curiosity, unfortunately, doesn’t trend as well as outrage.