Throwing the gauntlet, you need to challenge your bias!

Patrick Johnson
Sep 4, 2018 · 5 min read

We are influenced by hundreds of different inputs every day, starting when we are born and ending when we die. These inputs in and of themselves are inherently neutral, yet they mold and shape our world.

They come from our parents, our teachers, our peer groups, the songs we listen to, the books we read, etc. etc. It teaches us a way to view the world and how we should react within in it. Every single one of us will develop a different way of being as we age. Though common biases permeate their way through society. Three of the most common are:

1.) Masculine vs. Feminine

2.) White vs. Non-White

3.) Upper Class vs. Lower Classes

In no way is this an all-encompassing list, and no this article won’t tackle the intricacies of those three topics, no Medium article is robust enough for that. I’ve read dozens of books on these various topics and still am only scratching the surface.

But that’s the point, I’m reading those books and challenging my inherent biases and how I view/experience the world. We must as a people learn to acknowledge our existing biases, then ask if these biases are serving you and the people you love and if they don’t challenge them… push them to their brink and see if they hold up or if they crumble.

Image by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Yes you have bias

Before we delve further, we need to acknowledge that, yes you have bias and I have bias. This article in and of itself stems from a place of being biased. Setting the table with that forefront in our mind allows for a deeper dive into the subject matter.

What does it mean to have bias?

It means that you believe and approach situations in a specific manner due to your life experiences up until this point in time.

Here is an example that I became fully conscious of over the years. As a man, a white cisgendered man, I frequently will walk from a bar or a theater at night by myself. I never really thought anything of the fact that anywhere I leave from, regardless the hour of the evening I can get from point A to point B without any gawking looks or being verbally accosted.

One night, I was talking with a female friend about an experience she had walking back from a bar alone, and I sat there and saw the different reactions around the table of alarm from the other women there and my initial feeling of not understanding why it was such a big deal. They then proceeded to explain the inherent risks and dangers of walking alone at night, as a woman. It shined a light on a bias I wasn’t conscious of, and I am now more aware of it as I walk at night. Just this past weekend in Atlanta I saw a woman jogging at 11 P.M. at night by herself and I made sure to watch the surroundings to see if it was safe.

My bias about the safety of walking back from a bar was challenged, and it has since evolved. Now I strive to acknowledge that bias exists, so that I may learn if it serves me or hinders me.

Image by Gemma Evans on Unsplash

No Bias isn’t inherently bad

Here’s the thing though, just because bias exists doesn’t mean that it is bad. Bias serves as a filter and is a part of our biology. They are very similar to habits, whose purpose are to form pathways in your brain for highly repeatable tasks/experiences. Creating a superhighway that allows you to perform those tasks quickly and without fully engaging your mind in the decision making. From this angle, biases can be useful. They enable us to function in society better and focus on other aspects of our humanity that require more attention and brain function.

If bias isn’t bad, then why should we challenge it? Because all bias isn’t created equal, it can be formed due to poor inputs or, more likely, simple ignorance.

Bias is a tool.

That’s important to remember, bias exists to help us, not to define us. It’s here so that we, as the human race, can progress without relearning and/or working through the same problems time and time again. By possessing the biological programming to form bias, we free up our species to advance.

Image by Ross Findon on Unsplash

Challenging it makes you better

Whether it is at the gym, in the classroom, after a promotion, tackling new challenges makes you better. It pushes you and allows you to expand and achieve more. This approach is also valid when it comes to biases.

What served us well when we were 15, to survive and navigate high school, doesn’t help us as well when we are 21 and in college. Part of the college experience is that growth, usually we don’t think of it as bias but I can tell you as someone who was a shy and awkward kid who was bullied, I formed biases around popular kids, I quickly ID’ed people who I thought might intimidate me. Which helped me survive public school, but in college, I quickly learned I was pushing good people away because they fit old narratives. It forced me to challenge my bias towards people, and evolve as a person.

This is why challenging your bias is so important.

What served you before won’t always serve you now.

Also challenging your biases and evolving them can allow you to serve your family and your community better.

The status quo shouldn’t always be maintained, we should push ourselves to grow and not accept that everything that once was remains the same.

Image by Fancycrave on Unsplash

A complicated and important subject

Bias is a complicated subject, especially today when it feels front and center every morning and evening. There are news stories about it, friends share stories of their experiences with it, etc. etc. To me, that means it is more important than ever to acknowledge bias, to learn that it serves a purpose and that it shouldn’t always remain.

Reflect upon the words above and see if there are opportunities in your world where bias has played a part, I bet a few are already coming to mind, and then ask yourself was that a good use of bias or not? If the latter, challenge it. Push yourself to examine the issue again and apply a new, older and wiser, filter to it. In a future article I will discuss finding biases you do not know you have.

Patrick Johnson

Written by

creating content with the purpose of educating Connecticut citizens on the issues and challenges facing the state, and other political issues of the day.

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