The fact is that a large percentage of the population have at least some form of “institutional bias” when it comes to their opinions and beliefs. This isn’t the case for everyone though, so it is important that we stop and think about it.
How institutional bias may affect our opinions is in the form of the way we treat people. We think of ourselves as “civilized” people because we don’t treat others this way, but there’s a difference between “civil” and “civilized”. We need to stop and think about how we treat and judge people, because in the long run, this results in us being less “civilized” in our own minds.
As a matter of fact, we do have an institutional bias. We all take into account that there’s usually a bias in our society towards the wealthy and the powerful. The fact that this isnt the case for everyone, is why it’s important to change our minds.
The other day I was going to the grocery store for some groceries and I was thinking about how the people in my neighborhood live. I was thinking about how things are structured around the grocery store and how there are so many rules and systems and laws and regulations. I was thinking about how the people in my neighborhood live, and I was thinking about how nothing gets done in the way everyone expects it to.
We live in a society that is highly organized. That means that we have lots of rules. We have lots of rules that tell us who to let into our lives and what to do with them. We have lots of rules that say to keep our doors locked and our cars locked. We have lots of rules that say to never go anywhere alone. We have lots of rules that say not to do anything that might put our lives in danger. We have lots of rules.
I’m not saying all rules are bad. I’m just saying that when you have a society with lots of rules, you have a problem. This society, of course, is the United States, and I’m sure there are plenty of other US cities that are just as bad. In fact, one of the most common ways that people avoid having rules is by not knowing how to make rules.
This is where bias creeps in. How is it possible that all of my rules are so good? It’s because they’re all based on the same pattern of thought. I can’t think of one rule that is anything but bad. But for example, “This is for the benefit of the greater good.” That sounds like a good rule. But for example: “This is for the benefit of the greater good.” That sounds like a bad rule.
We hear about bias from people who are in a position of authority, who have money, or who have a long history of being on the side of the little guy. It is an attitude that is very common. People will argue with you about the rule that they just made up. If you follow some rules, you’re going to find that some rules are probably a little bad. But it is that simple.
Yes. But the problem isn’t just that we don’t always apply rules correctly. In fact, we’re often quite hard on ourselves. We want to feel that we’re “doing the right thing” and always do the right thing, but we don’t always do the right thing. If we really wanted to, we could probably get people to change their attitudes and beliefs. We could be more of a lot less.
We can change our behavior. It just requires commitment. I think this is the most important thing to consider when we start to change our behavior.
