We just had 2 days of a session given by a professor from Wash, State University, Ellensburg about David Smith, "Civil Conversation in an Angry Age". The first thing Professor Smith said was that when asked about our beliefs we always say we are so and so instead of we believe in or follow such and such an ideology. This tends to brand us and diminishes our being open to new ideas.
The recent rule change put out by our admin. is a great lesson to follow. Dealing with others who are quick to brand and vilify us is an important skill set.

In my long life, I have learned that asking :"why do people...? is the wrong way to get the answer.
Ask:" why do you...?

There seems to be some stupid nonsense that if I don't vote like you or don't have exactly the same opinion about everything then we are no longer friends.

Snap judgments are well-studied. They are a mechanism provided by natural selection to allow one to, metaphorically, run and ask questions later, thus being more likely to survive.

That in and of itself is not necessarily so bad, but snap judgments have been demonstrated to be extremely durable. Once I decide I don't trust someone, I'm going to be highly resistant to evidence that they are, in fact, trustworthy. I'm not sure where this part comes from. Maybe we've been selected to place a lot of confidence in our snap judgments, otherwise, we would not quickly follow them.

It takes a lot of work to train yourself out of these tendencies, and most don't make the effort.

And it can backfire. I have a natural reluctance to draw conclusions about others even when the situation is urgent and demands quick decisions. You don't always have time to collect data and mull over it at leisure.

My 2 cents: as we, as a society, are becoming more divisive, we are retreating to our core groups; and anything outside our group is bad. It is a fear response. It has been getting worse by both the right and left for many years -- back beyond Clinton.

You are only hearing the judgmental name calling being done by noisy right wingers, but the news media is waging a bitter propaganda war against DT, and their voices are much louder, or at least more pervasive. Just scan through MSN.

I don’t especially like Trump and I don’t agree with all of his policies, however I do support him as our legally elected president. I’ve said that before on this forum, and even such tame words got me skewered by zealous leftists.

We should treat each other better.

I think we are wired to judge people and situations. It's a bad, bad world out there.

The short of a long explanation.....humans are hardwired to judge, to assess, to be xenophobic

Because the Orange Don has made childish name-calling 'nouveau chic'.

We're unevolved. Our brains are still on survival mode, trapped in the Serengeti. But out technology has us interacting with thousands of peoples and tribes. Our brains haven't caught up with that yet.

Why are people so quick to judge?

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT???? You intrusive, nosey, prying, inquisitive, busybody, republican horror bag!!!!!

I think you should be more specific.

Apparently these people listen to Rush Limbaugh and watch Fox News.

Many nasty labels of Democrats were coined by Rush Limbaugh: "libtard," "snowflake," "Obummer," "communist," ad nauseam. Rush Limbaugh loves insulting Democrats in his radio rants.

Maybe folks don't like having their cognitive bias challenged? Also.. judging others can be easier than judging oneself.