BIAS

The dictionary defines bias as prejudice meaning a strong inclination of the mind or a preconceived opinion about something or someone.

I recall a drawing in Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  Two people can look directly at this picture.  And one person will see an old lady with a shawl around her.  The other person will see a young lady with a black choke collar around her neck.

Both observed and studied the same picture but came up with opposite views.  The human mind makes associations and the longer you live and experience life in general you’ll acquire predispositions or bias toward someone or something.

A mother’s love for her child will always be biased to defend their behaviors.  When you wish for an event to be true as you see it, when that happens you feel gratified.

But if you lose all objectivity for the truth your bias will remove you from making better decisions.  So you must separate the truth from your pre conceived belief system.

Evaluate in depth before you are persuaded to follow your bias.  Or worse, believe everything others including the media and the press tell you because they have bias also.

Compare and contrast history and records.  Whether for a person or government agency there is an historical record over time.  What are the true results?

My parents grew up in “The Great Depression.”  Neither had a college education.  They could not teach me how to make investments because they did not trust the stock market!  They knew nothing about diversity of a portfolio or stock averaging for the long term.

As children growing up we are micromanaged by our parent’s advice and unfortunately buy in to their bias’s. We accept those truths because we trust our parent’s advice.  Why not?  They have lived longer to know more history and results.

You cannot survive in the adult world with a 3^rd grade education.

One function of school systems is to teach critical thinking skills, but that doesn’t seem to be happening.  High school students are required to take a civics, government or political science class and pass their state and federal constitution test.  To become a citizen of the United States you have to pass similar tests to understand how government works.  The fact anyone who immigrated here and has lived in the U.S. for several years does not automatically entitle citizenship and voting privileges.

But as we know now, many students think this is a waste of their time because the teachers don’t place enough emphasis on the importance of this knowledge to help make better decisions with regard to those who govern them.  They take our freedoms for granted because they have nothing to compare what loss of freedom or safety is like.

Certainly parents don’t discipline their children as they used to with spankings a generation or two ago because now that is not politically correct.  But without personal discipline to study – letting information and knowledge in one ear and out the other and not be retained – is it any wonder why millennials think the way they do?

We are in the midst of another heated Presidential race.  The platforms of both major parties are very different.  But instead of focusing on the real issues that affect all Americans, the media grabs the mud-slinging insults for their story to sell more newspapers or get more ratings.

That effect means more viewers and advertisements to pay for the salaries of the reporters.  Without critical thinking skills and a recall of history and records of results to find the truth and make a better decision as to who will best lead America, the race becomes a crap shoot.  Which candidate looks nicest or promises the most without any regard to how it can be provided or funded.  Just tell people what they want to hear.

The more you do for others the less they learn to do for themselves. Necessity is still the mother of invention.  But listen to the promises of both candidates and choose which one you think will realistically deliver the most.

With bias you can color the world the way you want to see it.  But unfortunately promises are never kept or measured up.  Idealism may be hopeful, but pragmatically there is reality.  History does repeat itself and frankly the direction we are going reminds me of a Biblical verse: “And the meek shall inherit the earth.”

The middle class and all the “have not meek” need more than hope and false promises.  They need jobs, retraining, and a work ethic to take advantage of opportunities there are in abundance.  People have to make better decisions about their future instead of focusing on only one part of the big picture that offends or affects them most.

But why work for anything when a government will give you means for nothing on your part?  That prostitutes the American culture.  No one owes you anything.  A free and public education stops at age 16.  What you choose to do after that will affect you for the rest of your life.  Hold yourself accountable and stop blaming others, and as a responsible parent teach your children a work ethic so they will value their efforts.

Learn how your hard work leads to personal achievements and pleasurable experiences and stop rationalizing all your failures to get what you want.