• 0 Posts
  • 122 Comments
Joined 10 months ago
cake
Cake day: February 26th, 2024

help-circle
















  • Everything is a bias, everything is subjective, everything is open to interpretation. But most people think their own point of view is unbiased, no matter what it is. This is just a fact that naturally arises from believing in such a thing as unbiased information. It should be obvious. People want to hold whatever viewpoint they think is unbiased, so they do. People can be convinced to become racists, which necessarily implies that people can be convinced racism is unbiased. You didn’t think racists all knew they were biased, did you? They think they’re unbiased the same as you do, because you’re both humans who want to believe that you have the good opinions, and that good opinions are unbiased. And the fact is, you’re both equally correct on that front. You’re both equally biased. It’s just that you’re biased in favour of compassion and equality, while they’re biased in favour of hatred and supremacy. But the amount of bias is the same, because there’s no such thing as an unbiased viewpoint. You just think kindness isn’t a bias because you like kindness and you’ve been taught biases are bad things. Likewise, they think supremacy isn’t a bias because they like supremacy and they’ve been taught biases are bad things. And if you’re wondering if there’s an alternative to the way both you and this racist think? Yes there is, you can knowingly adopt good biases. I’m knowingly biased in favour of kindness, because I like kindness. I think choosing such a way of thinking makes me more capable of empathising with people I disagree with, understanding why they act the way they do, so I can attack the more foundational reasons for their belief effectively. It means I’m never surprised to see stuff like this. Because the thing is, they think exactly the way most people do. Just with different starting points.