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The midterm elections are less than a week away, and that means anyone who voices their opinion of a political or social matter will be met with much scrutiny and debate. Winston Churchill once said that “democracy is the worst form of government except for all the other forms.”
In addition to being a crafty play on words, there is also a lot of truth to that statement, given that we are forced to choose between candidates who paint complicated issues in simple shades of black and white. Inevitably, political candidates paint issues in two colors because 1) it makes issues easier for voters to understand and 2) they highlight the democrat or republican views that they hold.
Nevertheless, I’m not here to talk about political or social issues. I’m no longer into politics anymore, for better or worse.
What I am here to talk about is a term I’ve heard spoken about for years, a term that comes up more often than ever around election time: bias.
I believe keeping an open mind is an important quality that every individual should have. Regrettably, it appears that many of us fail to understand what keeping an open mind means.
Whenever the term “bias” arises in conversation, it usually is spoken about after hearing someone voice an opinion different from the one they agree with. It goes something like this – “I can’t believe so and so watches that channel or reads that publication. That news source is biased against….”
Try reading the comment section of any article found on a major news source. The author of the article can respectfully express their viewpoint – i.e., they can do so without attacking any other viewpoint and explain why they prefer what they believe over the alternative– and there will be those who will claim bias because the author doesn’t agree with them.
To many in our country (both conservative and liberal) you are close-minded for not supporting their beliefs. For instance, If I say I’m against abortion, I will be called a women-hater by many liberals. If I say I support the Affordable Health Care Act, I’ll be called a socialist-loving RINO by conservatives.
Not being able to agree with one another is not the problem with political discourse in our country. People who become hostile in the face of viewpoints that don’t align with theirs, on the other hand, are.
For the left and right, the concept of not being biased is the same song, just with a different verse. Someone who is biased is anyone who chooses not to take into consideration any viewpoint that conflicts with theirs.
If I blindly accepted either liberal or conservative views, that would make me the opposite of open-minded which is biased. Bias is not the person that disagrees with you. Bias is the person who either wants everyone to agree with them or believes those who disagree with them should keep their opinion to ourselves. Biased are those would seek out media that reinforce their opinions.
If someone takes the time to observe an opposing viewpoint and rejects it, they aren’t biased; they’re just someone who has considered other views and decided it is not for them. Constantly scoffing at someone who supports abortion or is against it makes YOU the biased person. Think of the liberal who won’t even consider that tax cuts for the wealthy could help the economy or the conservative who are against any kind of new background check for gun owners.
Not being biased has nothing to do with supporting someone else’s views. Instead, it has something to do with a concept I wrote about in the past: confidence.
Part of being confident is being yourself and being okay with people not agreeing with you or even liking you. Someone disagreeing with you is NOT THE SAME as someone attacking you. Whenever you hear something that is different from what you believe, take time to understand it, evaluate it, and decide what you stand for.
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Photo by Luke Braswell on Unsplash
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