Phrases We Should Stop Using, Pt. V: Cover?

Time for another installation of the "Phrases We Should Stop Using" series.  I've got another one that I dislike.  People often say "Don't judge a book by its cover."  The idea is to reduce prejudice, stereotyping, and premature judgments.  But does this fit with reality?

Malcolm Gladwell famously defended the snap decision in his second book, Blink.  He said that humans are much more capable of rapid judgments than we give ourselves credit for.  Indeed, it's not uncommon for hunches to be shown right over time. When lengthy examination doesn't turn up anything, sometimes a broad glance can reveal a great deal.  The phrase "Don't judge a book by its cover," however, refers to people generally.  We can't do this same thing with people, can we?  That would be wrong, prejudicial, and worse!  I think, however, that in many cases we can.

I think people can be more transparent than they seem.  First impressions are often correct.  Who hasn't passed a quick judgment on someone because they showed up under-dressed, or sent an important letter with poor grammar and spelling?  What employer hasn't discarded a resume for typos?  But more important than even that, however, is character.  A person's character may be the most important thing about them.  A person with incredible capacity is useless if they have no character.  They may even be dangerous, which is worse than useless.  Good character can take a great deal of time to prove, but bad character can often be identified in an instant.  It may be wrong to judge a person based on first impressions, but if the person is flying red flags, wouldn't it be wrong to ignore them?

I think that there may be times in which it's important to judge a person based on first impressions.  Job interviews are an obvious example, but generally in life you want to be found around people of good character.  Character doesn't tend to be something that rapidly changes in people, so when you come across someone flying all the red flags of bad character, be wary.  People who feel judged by their first impressions ought to consider the impression they are making.  It's simply foolish to make easily-avoidable mistakes like showing up under-dressed, publicly making bad grammar or spelling mistakes, or other simple faults.  Moreover, we ought to consider the image that we put forward, particularly in terms of our character.  There may be few things more important!