Bias is a natural thing all people have. It forms our opinions on music, movies, friends and favorite colors. All things that require you to think about something without a direct answer. Direct answers, for example, would be: two plus two equals four. You cannot debate this because it is a fact, and you can’t form an opinion on it. On the other hand, if someone were to say, “Writing is hard,” you may form an opinion about the person speaking or about writing. Opinions shape the world and allow new ideas to be formed, like a new book, a movie or a dream.
Even animals have biased opinions. If you’ve been around an animal, you can often tell if they dislike a person if they avoid them, attack or act aggressively. That is because these animals have made a bias in their heads that this person is bad and that there are better options.
Without biased opinions, the word favorite would not even exist, because favorite implies that you formed the thought in your head that this is YOUR preferred color, and there is no right or wrong answer, so it is an opinion.
As time goes on you realize your opinions can only shift if you put in the work to understand other options. Has someone ever told you that a person is rude, but once you met them, they turned out to be not what you expected? That is because your bias changed due to a new experience. An opinion can be manipulated and formed into something new without it being wrong. If someone says they like the color blue because of the ocean, but after visiting a national park, they like green because of the forest. This didn’t change any facts about the ocean or the color blue, it changed their perspective on the world and they now see green differently.
A dark part of the term bias are things like racism, sexism or thoughts against religions. The dislike of a certain group due to looks, beliefs or interests is a form of bias. Over the past three years hate crimes toward ethnic groups, ancestry, religion and sexuality have increased. This proves that bias can be a weapon if an entire group does not have the experience of another person’s perspective.
The more people become willing to interact in positive ways, bias can be used to equalize instead of divide. As you grow as a person, your biases change as you experience more in life. Bias is not something you can avoid, but bias is something that can change. Some people will still hold hope that what they believe is true. Like many others we can work to change the world and make it a better place for all people of religion, race and beliefs.
