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Break the bias – but what’s wrong with bias?
The danger of bias is that the hatred it causes infects not just one person but can instead influence an entire group or a regime.
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A day to remember: A female worker joins a rally to mark International Women's Day in front of the House of Representatives in Jakarta on March 8, 2022. Rally participants also urged the government to revoke the Job Creation Law. (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja)
“Break the Bias” is the theme of International Women’s Day 2022, which fell March 8. But what is wrong with bias? Simply, the Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language (KBBI) defines it as “deviation” or turning away from the appropriate straight line. This formulation refers to physics, regarding bias in light.
But generally, in the social sciences, “bias” has a similar meaning, namely the occurrence of a branching or deviation in views from what is correct because of some obstacle that changes its direction. This obstacle is ignorance.
Because the inherent nature of every human is ignorance, obviously everyone must have some kind of bias – ethnic/racial bias, belief bias, age bias, gender bias, social class bias. Other kinds of bias can stick to someone permanently or temporarily, such as bias regarding age, locality or social class, which are constantly changing.
Bias, therefore, is surely a “disease” suffered by everyone. But can’t it be resisted? Yes, it can!
As a Javanese, whether consciously or unconsciously, I have a Java bias. Therefore, I can misunderstand people from other ethnic groups from outside Java. Even with other Javanese, if their religion or “social group” is different from mine, bias can affect me. My Java bias, which is not eroded by knowledge, makes me stupid, failing to understand, or ignorant.
Actually, if it only goes that far, bias could be considered normal. After all, we can’t know everything. But bias becomes a problem when it also entails negative prejudice. Bias and prejudice are like two sides of the same coin.
Prejudice not only causes our assessments to be made based on the standards of our own values, but also makes us feel that we alone are correct. This is where the danger lies in a biased attitude: When bias continues into prejudice, while it is difficult to separate the two.
