Biased? Moi?

Every now and again one of my more political posts elicits an exchange of e-mails with someone who takes exception to what I've written.  One such recently ended with me being accused of being biased.  To which my response was "of course but the difference between us is that I know I am".

Every one of us has our prejudices and our preconceptions. We are socialised from birth in a society that feeds and waters those prejudices and helps them grow up big and strong. Me? I know I have a liberal left wing take on the world. I see the world through this filter and, I'll admit, many others (some of which my acquaintances would find considerably at odds with my assertion of being both liberal and left wing). Let's face it, people, myself as much if not more than most, are a mess of contradictions.

I know full well that when I write, talk and think about politics, I am doing so through the prism these prejudices have given me. I am aware that I am more likely to ascribe nefarious motives to my opponents and benign ones to my allies. Believe it or not, where possible, I do try to remember this and mitigate it, but it doesn't always work out. In the heat of the moment, reason will fly out of the window. Who can blame me? When the Tories are being particularly Tory, it is so hard not to get very angry and ranty.

Everyone is biased in one way or another, even though most of us wouldn't admit it. We all think we know the truth and we all think that we are right. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary!