The Biased Observer©
Articles and Commentaries by Tom Spence Published Periodically
Many years ago, make that over a quarter century ago, I wrote the unofficial school newspaper. Its name was The Biased Observer. As the name would indicate, it was more a look at events of the week through one set of eyes than any attempt to objectively report the news. The news was what old people watched. I was more concerned with issues closer to the heartbeat of humanity, such as how many times in one week was a high school cafeteria allowed to serve beans as the main course. The mean and mode for this query was unfortunately three, which was also the unpaid circulation of this tongue in cheek periodical produced in lieu of homework on a weekly basis using a manual Olivetti typewriter and carbon paper.
Through the years, I acquired some higher education, experience in many cultures, and some insight as to the workings of the mind. Today, I teach thinking skills and creativity. One thing that I have learned is that you just cannot look at something objectively. If someone says, let's look at this objectively, they mean let's look at this through my view of objectivity. We all perceive our surroundings differently. In parallel thinking, we separate the elements of thinking and focus on each of them separately and the product is a much more objective (and considerably more effective) examination of a topic or issue. Even with these specific tools, we never truly get to objectivity. Parallel Thinking enables us to broaden our base of objectivity, but we should realize that objectivity cannot be fully obtained. When I first used The Biased Observer as a title for my periodic accounts of the world, its purpose was to relieve me from any responsibility to apply critical examination to any of the topics I wanted to discuss. I'll revive the title in this column as a realization that no matter how much objective effort is applied to a topic, it will always retain much of the bias of its author. But much like variety, the author's bias can be the spice of life.
This column will focus on a variety of topics, each seasoned with an assortment of spices. Its intent is to inspire, provoke, and occasionally provide some relief from the issues of the week. I think you will enjoy it, but then again, I am a little biased.
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Copyright 2005
Tom Spence