Bias

There are people, creatures, objects, ideas, etc. we like and there are people, creatures, objects, ideas, etc. we don’t like so much. There is basically nothing wrong with it. Those luckier of us can choose whether they prefer rice or potatoes for dinner today and that’s fine.

The problem appears when we make and present opinions and judgements based on our preferences instead of objective facts. Proposing that rice is good and potatoes are evil or vice versa just because we like or dislike one or the other may look ridiculous. But condemning good or praising evil because we stand on some side is fatal. By making biased views we may hide truth, support lies and cause hurt of various impact. Prejudice is enemy of truth.

Perhaps we all are prone to making quick prejudiced conclusions. Just look around (and don’t miss a mirror). Even intelligent and respectable people can demonstrate this syndrome. It’s everywhere and it doesn’t matter whether we look at matters of everyday life, personal relations, world changing ideas or purely technical things. It’s often accompanied by incompetence, but these are two different things: One can make incompetent decisions while honestly trying to find the true way; biased approach is (less or more intentionally) built on false facts and thus bogus from the beginning.

We are sometimes afraid of truth for various reasons. But we can’t change truth. Trying to do so makes no good and is futile. So let’s try to be more honest and respectful next time.