Why Are We Yelling?: The Art of Productive Disagreement

by Buster Benson

I will try to accept my bias, which means I’m willing to: Acknowledge my limitations and unique perspective. Invite diverse perspectives to the table. Listen generously when others point out my blind spots. Be willing to accept the discomfort that this inevitably brings as a welcome gift. In some ways that I can see, and other ways that I can’t, I will always be forced to take some strategic shortcuts that systemically neglect certain kinds of information because of constraints of attention, meaning, time, resources, and memory. Nobody can escape bias, including me. Without these strategies, I would become paralyzed by uncertainty. The strategies that I have to use also systemically neglect certain kinds of information that will disadvantage and harm certain people in a way that I will not be aware of without a lot of work. Efforts to avoid bias are primarily about seeking comfort, which results in maintaining the status quo. I must not confuse comfort for growth. Honest bias is rarely comfortable; discomfort is key to my growth, and desirable. My biases are reinforced by my surroundings. This includes the communities around me, the products and services that I use in order to stay informed about the world, and even the institutions that I belong to. There is no cure for bias, but it can be managed with honest self-reflection, requests for thoughtful feedback, and a willingness to address feedback directly however it comes to me. Bias is deadly. We can’t avoid it, and not ...