Fighting Implicit Bias

Friday, May 16, 2025

Fighting Implicit Bias

[CSLF is pleased to present our comment section Friend and master punster Jay Janney on his first front-page contribution.]

I know DEI currently has a bad rap (the mothership recently “debated” it, but both authors agreed on almost everything). Implicit bias is something DEI folks train us to observe, and it causes more eyerolls than my morning jokes. But I like implicit bias training. Here’s why.

Remember Jeffrey Epstein? After he allegedly hanged himself, they arrested his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. She was tried, convicted, and jailed: she’ll be 78 before she’s supposed to get out. Her conviction was for trafficking minors: can we all agree that’s among the worst types of evil? And yet I had some ambivalence about the trial and verdict. I didn’t dare share that with anyone because who wants to defend a trafficker?

Last year I completed my annual implicit bias training near Christy’s birthday. Christy was my best friend in college, who died from an experimental surgery that failed.¹ As I pulled up Christy’s picture I realized what was wrong. I had previously seen teen Ghislaine Maxwell photos; she and Christy could have been cousins, if not sisters. Same build, same black hair and hair style. Same tomboyish charm, same mischievous eyes. But while Christy was just slightly too mischievous to be a saint, in terms of character she was 180º opposite of Ghislaine.

I then recognized I was imputing Christy’s good character to Ghislaine because they looked similar. That is implicit bias. It can be either positive or negative bias. But you cannot stop it from happening. About all you can do is ask who that person reminds you of when you sense something is off. So if you like a politician from the other party, who comes to mind when you close your eyes and ask why it feels you know them? Or if you dislike a job applicant, who did you have negative experiences with in the past? Being aware, and knowing to search helps reduce it.

1. Edited to correct an error of omission on the part of the editor.