My Anti-Bias Bias

I am really, really tired of a society filled with bias.

More to the point, I'm tired of rhetoric, the propegator of bias. Rhetoric is the tool the leaders of any given cause or agenda give to lesser members of their flock so that they can enlist new members, who are also equipped with the rhetoric. You can easily identify rhetoric when you are engaged in a debate or discussion with someone and realize that you just heard someone on TV say the same thing with the same words less than 24 hours ago.

What bothers me about bias and rhetoric is that it's indicative of a society that doesn't think for itself. This is especially dangerous in a democratic society - the public determine its leaders, but the leaders are all too happy to keep them supplied with a steady stream of rhetoric to keep them in line. Basically, once someone has aligned themselves with a particular group of people, whether it's a political party, religion, or conspiracy theory, they allow the other members of that group to shape their opinions and beliefs in such a way that it becomes very hard for them to be open-minded.

Here are a couple specific forms of bias that really drive me crazy:

• Religious Bias. I'm a Christian, and this is one that I find I have to keep in check pretty carefully. The problem with religious bias is that it's essentially intertwined with the belief system. When your pastor or priest or imam says, "this is what our religion believes about that," it's really hard to try to see it objectively. You've been supplied with the answer, and if you start from the beginning and work your way up (i.e. scientific method), you feel guilty (and are possibly shunned) if you come up with a different answer. Religious bias is also dangerous because it can often lead to the violation of basic tenents of the religion all while trying to advance its agenda (suicide bombings, burning down an abortion clinic, hate speech, etc.).
• Political Bias. Republicans and Democrats have got to be the most sheep-filled institutions on the planet. People wait to be told what their political party believes, and then they all jump on board. Drives me nuts. One of these days, I'm going to perform an experiment. I'm going to walk up to a Republican or Democrat and tell them some story about a politician on the "other" side - some story that is completely fabricated. I'm going to make it juicy, so that they waste no time in jumping in to decry that person's foolishness, and when they're done, I'll say, "Oh you know what? I remembered the name wrong. It was actually [someone from their party]." I'd love to see how fast they backpedal.