Would you be happy if you were judged by the company you kept?

[cooolandrew]

The election has brought up guilty by association claims. Now in the context of a campaign team that is different as each person on it represents you. So the question here is would you be happy to be judged by the people youknow?

[niyad]

1. I am proud of the company I keep--activists, feminists, environmentalists

progressives, etc., etc.

[FSogol]

2. I posted in GD: Primaries. Is that going to count against me?

:shrug:

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

3. Me and myself would be in big ass trouble.

[cooolandrew]

14. Yep, the world is mad e of god and badsoem faily members and that can't be helped.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

28. For sure. I do try to see the good in people, though I'm having a hard time with Hillary . . .

I have to admit.

[justinsb]

4. Most of the people I know are

wonderful fun people, but alot of them are artists, musicians etc.,

They are alot of fun, very creative talented people but...do I want to be judged based on them? On everything they may say or do? lol..scarry thought. There are alot of times when they don't even mean what they say.

[cooolandrew]

15. Which highlights a point I think.

[panader0]

5. My girlfriend told me that I needed a better class of friends

You know how musicians are. So when the drummer went to jail and the lead player went to rehab, they were replaced with guys with no warrants, and that could hold their liquor. Oh yeah, they have jobs too. So, yeah, I think now.

[Wickerman]

12. yeah, but do they have the chops?

:evilgrin:

[BigDDem]

6. Present

[olkaz]

7. It's a ridiculous notion, we all have friends and people in our past who have done bad things

I've known people who have gone to prison. I had nothing to do with it, but I knew them. I've known people who have had awful drug problems, been cheating on their significant other, just generally were awful people. It doesn't start out like that, but I'm not going to ditch a friend in hard times.

Jesus Christ was ALWAYS associated with criminals, prostitutes, and other social misfits.

Anybody who honestly has no friends that have ever gotten into any sort of trouble either has very few friends or doesn't know their friends very well.

[AlCzervik]

8. hells yeah.

[leftynyc]

9. Of course

I have nothing to hide in my friends or family.

[cooolandrew]

17. Thats' wonderful probablybreaks the law fo averages though.

[leftynyc]

29. I come from a family of lawyers

Maybe that has something to do with it. None of us "live out loud" so the chances of them having said something in public that would embarass me is quite minimal. They're all liberals ranging from far left (socialists) to center left so there is nothing there. Maybe I'm just lucky.

[LSparkle]

10. I accept people as they are -- WITH THEIR FLAWS ...

which means that I may not like ASPECTS of some of my friends. That isn't
to say that there aren't attributes that I like and enjoy about them. If I
had to accept EVERY SINGLE THING about my friends, I wouldn't have any!

[cooolandrew]

18. This is the wonderful thing about Obama he sees the good in America the good in Wright & even inHRC

[murielm99]

11. Push poll

People ARE judged by the company they keep. We may not like it, but it happens all the time.

[cooolandrew]

21. They are bu shold they be? Sometimes but not always.

[MyNameGoesHere]

13. hmm i don't know how to answer that.

My Mother, brothers and sisters are racists. We have not spoke or seen each other in 30 years. See i made a choice to not associate with them because of their views. Is it hard? hell yes. But in the end I am better for it because i will not tolerate that kind of hatred.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

16. my momma always said "show me your friends and I'll show you what kind of person you are"

and to answer your question.....Yes, I would be happy to be judged by the company I keep.

[olkaz]

19. Okay, so what if a friend does something stupid?

Cheats on wife/husband, steals something, involved in some sort of fraud, drugs, addiction....

By what you've said, I assume that means that the person isn't your friend anymore?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

22. I don't pal around with cheats frauds, druggies ...and that's just the way it is

[olkaz]

27. Are you insinuating that none of your friends has the capacity to make a mistake?

People are human. I mean, you're making a pretty bold statement.

I mean, honestly, you've never had a friend who had a problem?

I mean, there are great people all through history that fell victim to something.

[sandnsea]

20. I think people generally are

People who surround themselves with a certain type of person is generally making a statement that that's the kind of person they are too. However, I would not be happy if I were judged by a couple of statements someone else made.

[cooolandrew]

24. At present he is surrounded by Kerry, Ted and Caroline Kennedy, Stevie Wonder we can judge that too.

[sandnsea]

26. Yes

And Hillary surrounds herself with Penn, Wolfson, Carville and Bill -- and I make a judgment about her based on that.

I think the poll was worded poorly.

[mmonk]

23. Well I'm a partcipant to DU and I hear from rightwing sources that's bad.

[Maven]

25. What do you mean "if?"

People ARE very often judged by the company they keep. It's a fact of life.

No one is likely to judge you for being close to someone who has done one or two bad things in the past (unless they're really bad). But if you maintain an alliance with someone who repeatedly and over time has shown poor integrity, then yes, that reflects on you as well.

[McCamy Taylor]

30. Is this about Ferraro or about Wright? How are people supposed to answer if they do not know?

j/k

:rofl:

I think that a lot of Obama supporters just got punked. And any Hillary supporters that went with "yes", too.

Welcome to the wild and wacky world of relative values. Ask a Republican a question like this and you can make his head explode.

[LWolf]

31. Other:

When it comes to my life, my character, my choices, I don't give a fuck about anyone else's judgment but mine.

Politicians, on the other hand, are regularly judged by the company they keep.

[Igel]

32. I voted 'yes', but only with certain assumptions.

I don't get to choose family. I have high tolerance for them, and don't see how it could be otherwise.

I have little say over who I work with or sit in class with or take classes from or give classes to. Depending on how closely we work together, I might have to have high tolerance for them. Or I might find another professor or a new job. I've done both.

I have somewhat more say over what work or school folk I socialize with. Still, to some extent they come with the territory. I'm glad that the real loons in my grad dept. were people that I barely knew.

I have a lot to say over who I voluntarily socialize with. I have low tolerance for insanity on their part.

I have a lot more to say over who I set up as role models. I'm ok with setting them up as role models only in limited ways--a given professor might be a paragon of logical virtue but a miserable excuse for a slug, making him a fine role model for logic but not so much on how to treat other people. But these are sort of impromptu, extemporaneous role models.

There are also people that are just friends: "Role model" may not be the right word for them. It's these that say who I am and who I'm not, because these are relationships that take effort to maintain and form, and are completely voluntary. Some will change over time, beoming people that I am not proud to know: Then I have a choice, to try to change them at the risk of being myself changed, or ending the friendship. The friend's attitude plays a large role in this: If they're not happy with what they are, then it's easier to overlook their flaws.

Preachers are, in many ways, professional role models: There may be a sense in which they're not role models, but typically what they *say* is judged fit for following by their followers. If they don't say things that are reasonable, if their preaching is hateful, they fail as role models. Then I must accept them or reject them, and my acceptance or rejection is about me, not about them. Were I in a congregation, I would be *paying* them for their output, and I would be applauding or encouraging them by attending.