To Judge the Judging

Every week or so I crack open the opinion potion of the local paper. Then I laugh. I'm not laughing so much at the authors or what they've chosen to write about, but more so of the inevitable back-lash of all the comments people readily give in return
For example: a couple weeks ago a columnist wrote about how they hated all forms of PDA and the week after the most passionate pro-PDA advocates had all come out of the wood work to write about their apparent outrage over the article. The week then after, another rush of letters came in with people arguing the original point of being anti-PDA. And so the cycle kept turning publication after publication until another issued article was printed and a new cycle began. The biggest twinge of amusement comes from the fact that almost all these letters are judging the other writers' words and telling them not to be so judgmental. Why haven't they ever found the irony in this circle of condemned men and women?
I'm not saying that we should stop judging, judgments can be a good and beneficial part of our lives. When I'm looking for a parking spot I'm going to judge the cars I'll park next too and usually pick the new-mint-condition one over the car with scratches all over their doors. Or I'll judge whether or not to buy fruit from a vender depending how clean everything is. Judgments are necessary.
Maybe we just need to add more 'benefit of the doubt's in our lives. My experience in life is this: there are always exceptions to things we dislike. Or in other words, nobody hates everything. I could say that I hate bees because their stinging hurts, but I like the honey they produce and the flowers they help pollinate. I could go on and on about how I despise people who wear socks with sandals, but what if a person was a burn victim and had to wear the protective socks; then I would have to make an exception there as well.
The down side of these articles is that they are not conversations and if they were the two debating parties might be able to agree on some middle ground. I love holding hands with my Ben in public, but I didn't appreciate when I was sitting in church and the couple in front of me was literally making out, tongues and all, for 22 minutes. (I timed them)
We should all take a breath when hearing someone's opinion and then actively look for what we do and do not agree with in their statements. There is always a little of both in every opinion.