The Myth of "Good Bias"

The salience of racial inequality has been always been questioned, perhaps now more than ever. While people are still debating over whether or not racism still exists in a post-segregation era, there is something that most Americans can get behind when discussing racial bias: it's wrong. Call me optimistic, but I'd guess that if I were to pull 10 people from my neighborhood aside and ask them if they thought it was okay to be a racist, they'd probably say no. In a post-slavery, post-segregation society, we know that it is socially unacceptable to judge people based on their nationality, ethnicity, or the color of their skin. We've got it.  Racism is bad.

Well, sometimes racism is bad.

There is good racism. Apparently.

Call me pessimistic,but I'd have to say that if I were to pull 10 people from my neighborhood aside and ask them to lay out both of their hands, I would still not have enough fingers to count the number of times that I have heard somebody make an argument for "good racism." Granted, it's never called racism, but it's the same concept. Racism is defined as,"the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race." As said before, most people consider it morally wrong to make these judgements to say that somebody is dirty, inferior or dangerous, but what about smart? What about being frugal or athletic? Is it wrong to assume good things about people because of their race? To be blunt, yes. All bias is harmful.

For example, the concept that Asians are smart is one of the most common forms of "good" racism or "good" bias. Most people would consider that an advantage, but check out this. Clearly being seen as superior in a certain field is not always an advantage. Even if it was, this judge. ment is still wrong because it assumes that others are inferior to one's ability because they are of a different race. It doesn't matter the ethnicity of who's getting discriminated against: black, white, Indian, Asian. Judging one's abilities and granting them opportunities based off of anything other than their performance is unfair, no exceptions.

All bias is bad bias. All bias needs to end.