Speaking Up for Unity & Against Discrimination, Biases & Prejudice

Guilty as charged!

Where do we learn about norms, prejudice, and biases? We absorb them from the society we grew up in. We are told what to believe in. What to expect from our own family and tribe then we are told that the others are not like us. We were told to be afraid of their bad traits and been warned of them for "our protection." Our faith, race, beliefs, and habits are always right and outsiders are wrong."

These were lenses forced into our eyes to view the world with. With time, these prejudices and biases became self-fulfilling prophecies. Sucnonciously we end up looking for pieces of evidence to confirm what was told to our fears: "Beare of....", "Never trust ....", "x race is like this and that race is like that". And then we also encounter some negative experiences with the "others" which are registered in our "System one" as Nobel prize laureate, Daniel Kahneman "Thinking, Fast and Slow" (2011) wrote in his book.

As grown-up people, our responsibility is to detox and clean our thoughts, reactions, and actions from the noise, unjust fears, overreaction, biases, prejudice, and discrimination. All of those are like being infected with a virus, often asymptomatic then without mal intention infect others with our disease.

What we need now is to listen to the #covid19 pandemic. The virus told us that we are one. It did not favor any faith, color, race, sexual preference, gender, political opinion, and social status. So should we. It will be a big waste if we do not learn the lesson. We need to put our hands and hearts together to speak up for unity.

So what can you do? Consider:

1. Assessing your personal beliefs and biases, Name them. Look at the mirror of your soul. Write them down. Where did you get them from? Are they true? What proof do you have? Hint: When you generalize, you are likely falling into the biases trap.

2. Observing your prejudiced thoughts, fears, evoke feelings that surface up. What do you think? What do you feel? If they are positive then celebrate them. If they are negative, beware of jumping to conclusions. Name them again. Ask them why did they choose to surface now. What are they trying to protect you from? Then take a step back and buy time to allow "System 2" to kick-in. That will produce the antidote before we say or act.

3. Using your values with your words and actions. You are defined by what you say and do. If you are upset, afraid, irritated, or feeling threatened by your thoughts, chances are that one or more of these core values might have been stepped on: #Respect, #Fairness, or #Safety. Make it a habit to choose your words with your values as your sift. Let the real you go through and keep the dirt

BTW, The only safe place that prejudice & biases can be helpful is with stand up comedy and better laugh at your own identity. I will be happy to tell you Jewish and Polish jokes.

Gratitude: The post is part of a collective work of Asia Professional Speakers - Singapore (APSS) club. Designed by the team. Thank you,  Josiah Tay Guan Hin, Jerome Joseph, Cathy Jonson and Andrew Chow,