A Quick Note on Bias

I’m biased. I’ll admit it. I’m a Christian with all of the great things and the added baggage that implies. I’m pro-life, yet I also consider myself a supporter of women’s rights. My political views in general (save the right-to-life thing) tend to skew very progressive – so much so that I consider President Obama’s administration fairly conservative. I feel for the members of the Occupy movement even if I won’t join in any protests. I’m staunchly anti-war and anti-violence in general. I oppose any and all methods of torture. I believe in protecting our environment, and I’m convinced by the evidence that we, as a species, are doing much harm to this wonderful world.

On more trivial topics, I’m very much a fan of Apple products;  I’ve never met an Android product I’ve loved. I like Star Trek with Deep Space Nine being my favorite series. Yes, I do like the new Star Trek movie. I’m a fan of The Empire Strikes Back. I think the Star Wars prequels were a crime against nature. I like 2001: A Space Odyssey and most Pixar films. I refuse to see anything with Michael Bay’s name attached to it. I like Stephen King, John Irving, Arthur C. Clarke, J.K. Rowling, Harlan Ellison, Gregory Maguire, and a host of other writers. I think the Twilight series is also a crime against nature – especially considering how many trees have been sacrificed to those tomes of triviality and nonsense. I love Christina Perri and Adele, but I think Lady Gaga is wasting her talent. I love Mahler but find Beethoven tiring.

The point is this – biases are a part of life. Everything we experience gets filtered through our biases. This means those people we read or watch for information also have biases. Their producers have biases. Their writers have biases. And their biases are not always mine. Where we fool ourselves is in thinking that somewhere we might find that grail of the unbiased assessor, the holy and anointed commentator who views all things through a lens of perfect clarity, un-fogged by preconceptions or personal preferences. Such a source does not exist.

“What got me thinking about this?” you ask (or did not ask, but I’m going to answer anyway). It was a blog post over on CNET that decried the lack of objectivity in Apple blogs.

Take the blog Daring Fireball. It offers some solid analysis. But in the end it’s a fanboi site, assailing the misinformed or pointing out how wrong or disliked the Android competition is. That kind of attitude gets in the way of informed insight.

The issue I take with this paragraph is this: the author is confusing unbiased with informed. (Okay, I also take issue with his childish spelling of fanboy, but that’s not the point right now.) John Gruber is clearly a very informed individual. He researches every one of his posts obsessively. He carefully selects the links he shares on his site; and yes, it all fits a specific narrative. When it comes to Android, his narrative is: “here’s why people like me find it unpleasant to use.” It’s not “here’s why Android should fail;” it’s not even “here’s why Apple is clearly superior to Google.” He doesn’t hide his bias. He wears it on his sleeve. I can respect a source that is honest about their own bias and presents their case in a calm and intelligent manner.

I can also appreciate a bias that still contains clarity of vision. John Gruber clearly prefers well-designed products, and Apple often fits his criteria more than anyone else. But he is also quick to criticize the company where he feels it deserves. He’s called Apple out on corporate actions that have been unpalatable at best. He’s quick to point out imperfections in the Mac OS and iOS user experiences. He points out when he thinks Apple releases a shoddy or under-prepared product. It’s apparent he feels Apple has set a high bar for the technology sector, but he’s unafraid to write about areas where he feels the company fails to meet the expectations of themselves and their most loyal customers. Furthermore, he understands that his preferences are not everybody’s preferences. Again, John Gruber is catering to people who have similar subjective tastes as his own, but he has acknowledged time and again that not everyone will see things his way.

There are a few facets of bias that I cannot respect, however:

• Promoting a bias while maintaining a veneer or balanced and unbiased reporting is unacceptable. The worst offender in our current media is Fox News who clearly promote a pro-Republican (not even necessarily a pro-conservative) agenda while proclaiming, “We report. You decide,” calling themselves “The Most Trusted Name in News,” and repeatedly calling themselves “Fair and Balanced.” It’s a sham. Fox News is unashamed propaganda, but they deny the biased nature of their work to the hilt. They are lying to themselves and their viewers, and I cannot respect such an approach.
• It’s also a problem when your bias leads you to make subjective the objective. (Apple’s own corporate presentations have been guilty of this, especially in recent years, when it comes to how they present Apple/Android usage statistics.) Climate science is not an opinion. Death panels are not an opinion. President Obama’s citizenship is not an opinion.
• You should never treat people who don’t agree with you as idiots. Fox is perpetually guilty of this. Daily Kos is often guilty. Even John Gruber flirts with this in the tone of some of his comments and articles. If you feel someone’s opinion is uninformed, then inform. But don’t be condescending; avoid rudeness; and never act like a schoolyard bully in expressing your opinion. In other words, if you call iPhone users a cult, or iTards, or anything else like that, you’ve lost all credibility. If you use the term Feminazi or liberal fascist, you lose credibility.

Bias doesn’t bother me as long as you are honest about it and you don’t let it affect your conduct. Talking Points Memo is allowed to have a progressive bias because they are open and professional about it. The same is true for The Next Right, a conservative blog that does pretty much everything right (except for post regularly). I don’t mind Rachel Maddow’s ideological bias for the same reasons – and she’s pretty quick to admit it when she messes up. John Gruber and Paul Thurrott occasionally get under my skin when they write disdainfully of those who don’t agree with them, but I can usually stomach their biases pretty well, especially since John Gruber is such a good writer.

Have opinions. Have preferences. Be biased, but do so in an objectively informed way. Remember that those who don’t agree with you are also human; be willing to change your mind; and stay respectful. In the words of a preacher I know; “You don’t have to be disagreeable to disagree.”

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Posted by simplyrobert on December 18, 2011

http://simplyrobert.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/a-quick-note-on-bias/