By: W.S. Chandler
Let me begin by apologizing, for it taking me sixty-seven years to get this message understood in my mind. Believe me it took a lot to get here. Born in the 50s raised in the 60s. Spent a lot of those years south of Miami during the Kennedy years and the Cuban Missile crisis, and then north Birmingham for the civil rights days. Towards the later part of the 60s I would spend time in school in Nevada before I came back to Alabama to graduate.
After high school I chose to join the Army, instead of waiting to be drafted. I moved through the ranks quickly from E1 to E5 in two years then I received a direct commission to an officer during my third year. After 6 years I would decide to leave the army pursue other things in civilian life.
I have had the pleasure to visit all 50 States, although I have not been to the Caribbean. I have also been to quite a few foreign countries during my tour with the army. Being stationed in Massachusetts, I visited Canada. And while stationed in White Sands, N.M. I visited Mexico. Also visited a Japan in my tour of Korea, and a lot of Europe and the middle east during my tour in Turkey. So, I guess you could say I have been blessed to see a lot of the whole picture.
Through my personal experiences and travels, it has helped me to understand about Bias and how it comes about. My hope is I can do justice in presenting it to all that will take the time to read it. It will provoke anger by most and that is ok. For until we encounter the truth head on, we cannot make the changes that we need to. Hopefully after your original anger quells, your sense of truth will take over.
Bias is a big word for just four letters. The dictionary says it is” prejudice for or against one thing, person or group compared with another, usually in a way that is unfair”. Now most folks will tell you that they are not biased, but actually our nature is, to in fact, be biased. Bias is not something we are born with. Bias is something that is both taught to us and even done by our own doings as well. So how do we get biased?
We become biased in several ways. First and most predominantly by where and to who we are born. Growing up we learn our culture by those around us. If our family and neighbors hold fall festival, then we too will probably celebrate it as well once we grow up. If our community consist of living in the city then we to will most likely share that same desire, or vice versa for the country. If our family grows up with a staple food of rice, fish, beef, or vegetables, then it is quite likely that we also will be inclined to favor the same foods .A lot of times it is not a choice as much as it is a necessity. Such as growing up where beef is not plentiful, but fish is.
Following what you grow up with is almost natural. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. The problem is that as we do, we become inherently biased to our way of life. So much at times we think others are strange for their different views. While it is somewhat natural as well as normal for all, the bias can and does create problems, not only for us but for those we encounter as well.
We also develop bias by the teachings of our parents, family, friends, teachers and even our religion and country. Unfortunately, we will also pass those same biases on to our offspring, creating and endless cycle of bias. The history we learn normally in school will most likely show us in our best light, while showing our adversaries in a bad light. We will be taught to honor our country no matter what, well because it is “our” country. To enforce that path we will present it as honoring those that came before us, instead of actually understanding, just like every other group that has preceded us that there is some good and some bad in each and every one of us.
Even in our religion we will be taught a bias. I know this will make everyone pause but please try to follow my thought. Man’s version of religion is local. So, what do I mean it is local? Consider this. 95% of all folks that accept some form of religion, accepts the religion they grew up with. The religion of their parents and grandparents. The religion that is the most dominant where they grow up, or maybe the religion of a spouse that they marry. So, a child born in one country would almost surely be one religion and a child born in another country would be another. Understand that I am not trying to fault religion, I very much believe in God as the creator of this world. My point is that while we are raised in one religion, most never truly investigate the other religions. In fact, they are usually discouraged from an early age by their parents, who assure them the other religions is wrong, even though they never investigated it either. For those that claim they do investigate, I question their fairness in their investigation, I would almost bet they go into their investigation with their mind made up and look for thing to corroborate their views, while passing up truths about the other’s religion.
The reason for this is often another tool that we use to build our biases. That tool is our self-ego or pride. Some of that is taught from birth by our family. It has often been the teachings throughout the world about teaching our young to be proud of who they are. I have no problem with the thought but again it aids in the bias of people. It is ok to be proud of where you came from as long as you understand that others should as well. It is also equally import for us to understand that even though we might be proud of who we are, it in no way makes us better than any others, just different. Unfortunately, a lot of people cannot reach that point. Why? Because again we are taught that we should always be the best, to be successful. That our human worth will be graded by where we stand against all others. The old saying “second is just the first loser”, winning has to be foremost, no matter the cost.
So, let us look at a few of these biases in the light. First let us take the matter of physical appearance or race as we call it. Whether you look from a science view point or a religious viewpoint, it is easy to see that most of the differences in our physical appearance come about because of the path of our predecessors followed and to the climate and the environment they went through. From science we see that we all originated from a single source or sources and then spread across the earth. From a religion viewpoint we also agree that we either all came from a single seed or that God created each and every one of us. Either viewpoint puts us in the same spot. Tracing DNA points us back to Africa or the middle east and most religions that I have observed also considers the same area for the original creation as well. So as our forefather traveled, we can follow their change in personal appearance.
Also, as we look at humans today, no matter or race, as a whole, is identical inside to each other. Even our DNA is almost identical. So why do we point out the few differences that we do have? We many more common things that we share than the few we do not.
Language is another point of bias. Language came about in order for us to express or thoughts and feeling to each other. It allows us to operate as a group. Most likely it began with just grunt sounds that later grew into a meaning for that sound. Language is a lot like music, it creates emotions in our brain. Music could be described as noise that humans make, but instead we consider it almost as a different language in itself. Language began the same way. As sounds to indicate something or to get attention of another human. It was also used to pass along our emotions such as a cry versus a scream. So, each group developed a code to these sounds for different things. We now call it language because of the wide range of sounds we have created, but in reality, for someone outside the group that use that particular language, it is just noises. In fact, it is not different from the sounds that animals use to communicate to each other.
I am always reminded to a time while I was stationed in Korea. A group of us soldiers took a weekend trip to site see Seoul. As we walked downtown from shop to shop, we spoke some broken English and some broken Korean to converse with the shop owners. As we exited one shop one of the guys turned around and commented as to how dumb these folks were that they could not speak and understand English. I quickly replied to him to ask him if he remembered the fact that we were in Korea at the moment. They were quite fluent in the language they grew up with, maybe more so, than the soldier himself. This is a good demonstration of not only what bias looks like but also the fact as to how dumb it is. Intelligence is not based on the language you speak. In the past and even today, folks that can converse in multiple languages is considered more highly intellectual.
Biases can come in all shapes and forms. You can be biased to your country, but also to your state and city. In other words, you can be pro-American, but still be biased against Americans that are not from your area of America, or Americans that have a different race or religion or even a political view. We even have biases (to include down right hate) of folks that pull for a different sports team than the one we do, even though we have absolutely nothing to do with the success or failure of those teams. This is no more relevant than one’s bias about anything.
Let me interject am example here. If I took four people and placed them at the four corners of an intersection and then staged a high-speed stunt crash, I am sure that all four would give me a different version of what happened. Even if they tried as honestly as they could. One reason would be due to their viewpoint versus each other. Some would see things that others did not. Along with that would be their biases going in. Some might consider it important to watch the driver of the first vehicle while another would watch the other vehicle. Some would choose to follow the wheels while others watched the wheels, they might even focus on the red car versus the white car mainly due to the color of the car. So, as you see out biases can happen even without intention.
The point is they can all be honest and partially right but not exactly right. It is just a human thing. The major problem is that by not understanding our biases based on our position in life can be harmful and unfair, not only to others, but to ourselves as well. So, while we cannot always prevent bias from happening to each of us, we can learn to detect it and stop it from hurting others as well as our selves.
The cure is first to be able to spot it. If we closely monitor our decisions and choices by questioning ourselves on our reasons this will start us on the correct path. I hear sometimes from people that say they are not biased against people of a certain race, but they follow with the remark that the just do not like what they do. So, ask yourself, if they do something you disagree with, is it something that you did not do growing up. If so, do you have a valid grip or are you just complaining, because it does not match your customs. Take for example if you complain about rap music, is it just that the rap music is foreign to you because you did not grow up with it. I am sure a lot of folks did not grow up with opera music, but they do not call opera music evil like they might rap. That is where the bias creeps in.
What about the way a person dresses or wear their hair? You know there is a difference in the hair texture from one person to another. Does not just happen between races but also within races. Some people have curly hair others might have straight hair. Should we biased as to what kind of hair folks have? No that would be ignorance in itself. Since most folks draw hairstyles with some attention to the type hair they have, the choice of hair style is an individual one and needs no wide approval.
Ultimately it boils down to an old saying, “different stroke for different folks”. We can look at something someone else does different or believes different and just accept it as they way they were taught. We have no need to try and justify the difference in their actions and ours, buy trying to prove ours are right. You do not have to practice their ways and neither do they have to conform to yours. Learn to accept differences. One of the things I can say is by being willing to put my bias in its place and try new things, I have opened my life to great situations and enjoyment. Trying new dishes and new ways of doing things have taught be that a lot of the biases that I held growing up have proven not only to be foolish but have actually robbed me from enjoying new experiences.
We see companies thriving on the new “thinking outside the box” slogan. That is the same method we should adhere to. Even when people teach biases with good intentions, that does not make them right nor true. I often find that if I truly try to look at “why” the other person does a certain thing, I often out my own bias, as to why I originally thought a certain way. Once you begin by questioning your own thoughts and trying really find justification for your thought you can see the truth come forward. Such as a person having a fear from flying until they look at the numbers and see how safe compared to other forms of transportation, they realize their bias is not founded in any logic. The same with biases. A right-handed person is biased to his right because that is what he learned early in life. Proof is that people who lose their right arm become complete proficient with their left arm. Proof these biases can be retrained.
So, I challenge each person going forward to embrace things that are different from what you grew up with. Experience the things that you have rejected. Not only will you grow as a person, but your will experience a better and happier life. Our job on this earth is not about proving daily that somehow, we are better than others. Our job on this earth is to experience life, enjoy each other and do our best to make the world a better place, not just for us and our family but for every person on this earth. Hunt room to compromise with others. Learn to question your real motives. Reach to try and understand others rather than always attacking them. God is watching, so let us work to make Him happier not by attacking others but by working with them for His purpose, and let each of us have our own opinion of what we believe God’s true purpose is.