The concept of anyone being free from bias is as much of a juxtaposition as the concept of anyone being free from opinion. When by virtue of existing we all have an opinion, the unchangeable fact is that, in turn, so too do we all have biases.
From the ‘impartial’ newsreader to the ‘I just want what’s best for my country’ politician, everyone makes decisions based on their past life experiences.
A male juror called up to work on a female-on-male domestic abuse case, for example, where after decades of abuse from his wife the defendant snaps and is now standing trial for her murder, will have his decision influenced if he has also been the victim of domestic abuse. He is more likely to empathise with the defendant and find him not guilty, whereas someone who has never experienced such abuse will be more likely to find the defendant guilty, ‘misogyny at its finest’, thus showing that what we were exposed to then dictates how we react to what we are exposed to now.
And the problem is?…
There is nothing inherently ‘wrong’ with being biased in life, (as I initially stated, we all have biases simply because we all exist), however, when our life experiences have shaped us in such a way that our views are now bigoted in some way, this is where we find ourselves in murky waters…
One example that springs to mind here is Elon Musk whose daughter, Vivian, is transgender. Rather than being accepting of his daughter, however, Musk grieves for a son that never was, blaming the so-called ‘woke agenda’ for ‘corrupting his mind.’
‘My son was killed by the woke mind virus.’
Because of Musk’s grievances against ‘wokism’, which grew to be bitterly extreme because of his feelings about his daughter being transgender, he has adopted a far-right stance within which he publically expresses his distaste towards the LGBTQ+ community.
In recent years, Musk has been spearheading a campaign against transgender people and policies designed to support them.
He’s even called for the arrest of people who provide trans care to minors.
His daughter’s gender transition, Musk admitted in an interview, was the motivation for his push into conservative politics.
‘I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that, and we’re making some progress,’ Musk said in a video interview with psychologist and conservative commentator Jordan Peterson.
Had it not been for his negative feelings about his daughter being transgender then, would Musk still have developed such radically backward views?
Probably NOT, I would argue, because, to reiterate the point again… How we felt about what we were exposed to then, dictates how we react to what we are exposed to now. Hence, bullies are always the most insecure people that walk amongst us. ‘Hurt people hurt people’ — because what they feel, we all have to feel, and there lies the danger.
As we watch the corrupted becoming the corruptors, sitting by as protestors join the anti-woke movement, we realise that, in their pursuit of power, some people will do whatever it takes to make us feel the same pain they feel.
Corrupt minds corrupt minds corrupt minds.
At whatever cost, some people will do whatever it takes, even when the cost is our humanity.
