Nope, not taking another class. Not yet anyway. Just think some of the discussion questions are interesting.
Would you say that physicians who don't believe acupuncture works are biased if they reject it without trying it? If friends told you you could get a perfect grade in a course without studying just by regularly chanting the mantra invisible hand
, would you believe them? Would it be a sign of bias or prejudice on your part if you totally ignored this advice even though you are extremely eager for a high grade in the course?
People are full of advice. Take vitamin C to avoid a cold. Take vitamin C to get better from a cold faster. Drink 8 glasses of water a day. Etc. Etc. Etc. I don't believe any of it. I also don't believe in homeopathy, naturopathy, chiropractic, or a whole host of other non-traditional
medicines. Sorry, leave the astroogy and palm-reading at the door too. If you want to believe it, it's your life.
But with my life I'll stick with methods that can be shown effective in testing, preferably double-blind testing. If any of those methods work, they'll work under testing. And then I'll try them.
Is that bias or prejudice? Sure it is. Those terms mean that I have a tendency to believe something without evidence. My believe (without individual evidence) is that things without evidence generally don't work. I have a prejudice toward show me
. It saves my ass many times. In a realm away from medicine, it keeps me from donating money to charlatans who peddle charities over the phone. Every time I tell them, please send me your pitch in writing so I can check you guys out
. Not once have they done so. For kicks and giggles I looked up the last fraternal police
pitch I got over the phone. Turns out the fundraiser kept 79% of the money. I didn't even go look at the amount the charity received that went towards program services. Before I veer off too far, the point is that it's not my job to believe you (the generic you). It's your job to convince me.
