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The issue with biases

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Dear Editor,

Life is full of biases and prejudices, and for the world of politics it is no different. As a result, people and politicians are always put in “a box” or a sort of “hypothetical prison” by others, with the only determining factors as to whether one gets “locked up” or not being those same biases.

If we were to look more closely at the impact that gender and wealth has had on the ongoing race for the US presidency, we would see that Hillary Clinton could never have asserted some of the things that her Republican counterpart, Donald Trump, has on such numerous occasions — and got away with it.

Also, Donald Trump, who was a “political nobody” before all this, would not even have a glancing chance of this tall aspiration were he not a billionaire mogul. Perhaps, Clinton would have a similar challenge if it wasn’t for her political incumbency as well.

I suspect that Portia Simpson Miller has had and will continue to have biases to contend with, and she has cried “foul” in protest against some below-the-belt blows thrown at her in the past.

Many people have sought to change features about themselves in trying to adapt or escape these biases, such as resorting to skin bleaching, gender transformation at various levels of effort, illegitimate sources of income, or some other way of detaching themselves from their true and wholesome selves. However, they simply choose one “prison” over another in trying to do this.

Since it is impossible to alter these well-rooted biases — and perhaps counterproductive to try to avoid them — then it might as well be that we work with them; benefiting from those that are for us and trying to attain a “senior rank” in the prisons that are built for us by biases laid against us. After all, a lieutenant is a lieutenant anyhow or anywhere you take it. That’s why many well-known personalities opt to disclose sensitive information about themselves before the public gets wind of it, and even often seek to become ambassadors in such sensitive matters.

Andre O Sheppy

Norwood, St James

astrangely@outlook.com


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