You most definitely have a bias

A friend bragged: “I consider myself unbiased.” My retort was spiky: “So you don’t take a stand on things or have meaningful opinions?”

You most definitely have a bias. To declare yourself “unbiased” is to propose a litany of embarrassing propositions:

• “My reality has no impact on my mindset. I’m like Teflon!”
• “Being Teflon, I don’t have a stable background of experience against which to evaluate ideas.”
• “I consider everything to have equal moral weight. I cannot be an advocate or ally, because then I would have to privilege certain narratives.”
• “I’m OK with everything! Even the Star Wars prequels.”

You are awash in bias. Brains evolved under specific conditions and this distorts how you perceive. The time and place of your birth colors your beliefs about everything. And you are human. You were born into a sweaty primate body that unavoidably impacts how you act in and arrange the world.

It’s worthwhile to counteract your bias. One way is to bring your adversary closer. Another is to ruthlessly question binaries, because they are human-made frames, not gifts from God.

But you cannot erase your bias any more than you can erase your mother tongue. You need a slant on things if you want to be human—let alone interesting. Without a slope to the mountain, you’d have nothing to climb.