Valuing Objectivity
When Online Communication Encourage the Flexing of Biases
I was talking to a friend the other day. The name of a current public figure came up. (I’ll leave you guessing as to who, but you can insert a name if you like, ha :) My friend and I both have differing opinions of this person, which we were already aware of. Fortunately for us, we can still entertain discussions involving individuals who we don’t necessarily agree upon.
Amidst our talking, I said to my friend, let’s zoom out for a moment. I asked if it’s even possible today to go online and hear objective commentary about any of the prominent public figures discussed by the media? It’s as if the messengers aim is to hammer how you’re meant to think about someone. There’s no journalistic integrity for objectivity, there’s merely bias and persuasion.
I don’t need to be told how to think about someone, I can use my own discernment for that, thank you. I enjoy hearing unbiased perspectives. Speak to me with facts and thoughtful questions… and minimal bias. How about you? Where do you go for objective reporting? It seems everything is biased these days! All around us there's tons of biased opinions, competing against one another. I want to steer clear of that messy bog of polarizing divisiveness.
Where’s Truth in a World of Opinion
Don’t get me wrong, I’m open to speculation and hearing opinions from others. I just feel conjecture is best built from a solid foundation. Conjecture shouldn’t replace statements of fact. Sometimes you just want to hear the unfiltered facts, right? Delivered in a way that’s not so heavily influenced. These days, it seems information is disseminated for the purpose of shaping how the person’s meant to interpret things. Rather than sharing the information as “raw material” for the individual to place into their own interpretation.
I’ve spoken about the barrage of information out there, and how important it is to find reliable narrators. (You can also listen here.) Since writing about this, my concerns about the need for reliable narrators has only gotten stronger. The amount of information is too big to fathom. You must rely on media sources to whittle down the information. Even with mainstream media failing, alternative media sources are appearing to be captured and biased too.
Do you trust your media sources? There are so many media sources I don’t trust, so I maintain my diligence to question them all. I even question the ones I feel are trustworthy. I make note of instances when I see biases. Have you noticed if your reliable sources are biased? Do they state their biases? Are they able to speak objectively about topics?
Stripping Away the Bias
Here's a fun exercise to do. Take a scenario where you know you have a bias and see if you can speak about it as objectively as possible. If it's something where you have a negative bias, then try to see it from a neutral perspective. If it's something where you have a positive bias, then try not to praise or defend your viewpoint. Simply begin by stating, objectively, whatever it is. See what you notice by doing this.
You may ask, what’s the point of an exercise like this? At the very least it can shift your awareness. It can shift your acuity to move away from the sensationalism and exaggeration of our current forms of media. Exaggeration that society now relies upon as “normal” - it’s not even called exaggeration anymore!
At best, an exercise like this train you to share perspectives in a measured manner. While connecting to those objective signals within all of the online noise. The alignment comes when you set the tone. Principles first, bias second.
Everything around us, media-wise, seems framed solely as conjecture twisted as fact. I really have difficulty believing anything in the news at all, especially after COVID. At least I know where my biases lie most of the time and I am willing to listen to ideas that may not coincide with my own. I am not sure where one can turn to get thoughtful and unbiased news anymore. I guess Henry Rollins says it best when he suggests that getting boots on the ground( your own boots) is the only way to see what’s going on.