Checking your biases at the door...

[antaeus]

We like to think of ourselves as individuals, but in reality we're stacked with biases formed through a combination of our life experiences, and the influences of our childhood, our peers and those we admire. We are constituent parts of overlapping identity groups.

Aspects of our identity we like to think are logical, often aren't as clear cut as they seem. A self identified left wing political progressive from New York might push for open abortion, while a left leaning progressive from Lima might seek to make it illegal. A right leaning conservative from Auckland might look to open borders and free markets for wealth, while a right leaning conservative from Britain might seek to clearly separate from the EU. The various packages and components of ideas that make up our world views are inconsistent when genuinely challenged - to the point where it is possible to argue that in our societies, there are two sides, and where the debate lies is almost irrelevant.

In this thread, I'd like us to get introspective. To identify and challenge our own biases. What I don't want to see is us justifying our own beliefs - but rather challenging them - safe space and all.

1. Are we as capable of genuinely holding a blowtorch to our own beliefs as we are to those we like to disagree with? Or do we kid ourselves with the misguided notion that we think we do that already?

2. As an expression of question 1, what are the areas that you disagree with your favoured political parties, religious, or social movements about? Do you find anything to agree with those you don't like?

[enoch]

I was an atheist. Now I am not. Narratives are ever changing and people tend to follow more than one which intertwine and don't. Most are not willing to try anything resembling introspection because they crave certainty and absolutes and acceptance.

Doubt has been the bastion of the wise for all of creation for good reasons. If a being doesn't often realize they are wrong about things great and small chances are they aren't thinking. Just repeating.