"Where there is smoke there is fire"
I'm really beginning to absolutely hate this statement. I know why it's used. The problem is it's a prejudgement statement. And, we should not be in the business of prejudging people. Often it's used in commentary toward some legal case, politician, or political issue. But, really it is a poor choice for the user. It shows you do not want to think something through and just pass it off and pass judgement prematurely. A good example is when legal charges are brought against someone and they may already have a poor record. A person may see the charge and their past and determine their judgement based on their history or some other non-relevant thing. For instance, in Detroit, the former mayor (Kwame Kilpatrick)just recently got convicted for a couple of serious items. Now a few days ago, their have been some new charges for a number of other items. And really, all I have heard in response to those charges were "See, look at all the stuff he was doing." He has not been convicted yet, but the public is already condeming him. What a shame for our society. I don't care what a person's history is we need to see the results before we can pass judgement like that.
Now, many times, a person's history or other things help us to come to a conclusion when they are along with some facts. They may open up a road that leads to the correct conclusion or they may lead to a dead end. But, these things are not reasons within themselves. This is very common is race issues. One race may not like another one and will cite that as the reason they are a certain way and then pass judgement solely on that. This is a terrible thing. This does nothing but divide people.
This simple phrase is really divisive!
Don't forget there are other conclusions to "When you see smoke..."
Like: "Where there's smoke, there may be mirrors" and you may see something else entirely and not the truth. You may want to ask Criss Angel or David Copperfield about that.
The smoke may be a fog that covers the situation and when it is lifted, may not show fire at all but a reality that you may not want to be in. Like driving downt the wrong way on a road on a foggy day.
The only thing we know for sure, is "When there is smoke, there is smoke."
I'm just sayin'
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Never really been bothered by the statement. I see why it can be wrong. All very god points. But I do think that human nature is to look at something and think we know it before we have all the details. We see a certain skin color or a certain age or a certain politician and we assume we know. But a lot of times we do not know the whole story. In reality I must admit we can know certain things. I genuinely would not trust Kwame until he has proven himself to me. He has lied and cheated and stole way too much in the past. But should we automitically assume he is guilty of the new charges? No. Because we live in a great country where we are able to presume someone is innocent until they are proven guilty. But we often need reminders of that. But I tell you one thing. If you see smoke, you should check to see if there is fire. Not assume there is, but certainly not assume it is just a mirror. I'm just sayin. ;)
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