The Tight rope between bias and interest

The Tight rope between bias and interest
Trevor Gustafson

To me, what makes a good essay? Whether it is an essay that I have read, or an essay that I have written, to me a good essay is one that is on a subject of interest to me, and is also presented in a convincing, minimally-biased way. That can be hard. Interest quite often creates biasness. But it is when I walk that tight rope between interest and bias that I feel that my writing and my understanding of what I read is the best.
This class has helped me see that preconceived ideas can cause bias against something that I have read when I may not really disagree with it. One way I form a bias for or against an essay is through a preconceived idea from what the author said somewhere else. In his essay, The Owl Has Flown, Sven Birkerts writes that “wisdom has nothing to do with the gathering or organizing of facts.” In answer to this essay I wrote a reading response which is a short, informal writing in which the author critically examines the points presented in an essay. In this reading response [artifact A] I stated that I assumed throughout the rest of the essay that Birkerts was saying that no facts are helpful for gaining wisdom. However, now, looking back on the essay, I believe that Birkerts may have been saying that it’s not just the amount of facts that we gather, but also the quality of the facts that makes us wise. I also believe that the quality of facts is more important than the abundance of facts. While Birkerts and I might disagree on several things, we may not disagree on quite as much as I assumed we did at first.
Sometimes my preconceived ideas cause me to believe that the author is speaking against a subject when all along he is just making his readers aware of a subject. In his essay, The Loss of the Creature, Walker Percy examines expectations. In my reading response [artifact B] I stated that I believed that he was saying that all expectations are bad, but now I believe that he might have been more trying to make his readers aware of expectations then proving them wrong. I think he did still have a slight bias against expectations, but he probably wasn’t as against it as I had thought him to be.
Are there times when pre-conceived ideas are good? Sure there are. My worldview is a preconceived idea. Without a worldview, I would be wandering blindly without knowing what to believe. My worldview is what creates passion for a subject. I have a great passion for architecture so that’s what I wrote about in my personal analytical essay. A personal analytical essay is an essay where the writer gets to tackle a subject of great interest to him and discuss it from his or her own perspective. In my original essay I chose to talk about trying to decide weather being an architect was worth the challenges, but after I turned in my essay I chose to revise my essay into only talking about the pros and cons of the occupation instead of the pros and cons of getting into the occupation. I love writing about what I am passionate about, but sometimes I have a problem putting passion into an essay without making it biased. What is biasness and why is it bad in an essay? Biasness is the lack of coherent thought. It is the ignoring of facts from the other side. I may believe that the reasons for becoming an architect outweigh the reasons not to become one, but there are also those reasons for the other side. To ignore the reasons for the other side, and even say that they don’t exist, causes my readers to believe that I am not smart enough to see that there are two sides to every coin. Biasness causes me to abandon reasoning of both sides of the evidence for ranting about why my side is right and the other side is wrong. It quite often leaves out important facts and illustrations. Susan Willis once wrote an essay entitled Disney World in which she took a very biased opinion against consumerism and in so doing left out many key examples to back her claims. In my reading response to this essay [artifact C] I made it clear that the author had lost my respect. Biasness will cause my readers to loose faith in my ability to be trusted as a thinker.
This class has taught me is to find a balance in-between interest and biasness. I realize now that maybe I let my bias get in the way of understanding what the author is trying to say, and it can also cause me to write a one sided paper. Why is finding the balance important? Because to tackle a subject of no interest to me will be boring and the result will be boring. However to tackle a subject that I am passionate about, but allow biasness to get in the way of clear reasoning will turn out unconvincing. It is important to harness interest into examining all the facts not just spouting out my opinion. The readers will loose interest either because I am not interested in the subject as a whole, or because I am not willing to be interested in addressing the other side. When I loose the interest of my readers, what good is an essay?
How do I find the balance in between biasness and passion? Do I? Unfortunately not always. This is a work in progress in my life, but I am now more aware of it. In my reading response to Willis’s Disney World [artifact c], I ranted against, of all things, ranting. However this class has helped me make progress in this area. In my personal analytical essay [artifact D] I gave a two cited argument about becoming an architect. I did show the readers why I thought the pros outweighed the cons, but along the way I also mentioned the cons and the reasons I thought the pros outweighed the cons. I now realize that to rationally discuss all the evidence is far more convincing than dogmatically stating my view. This does not compromise my views; rather it allows me to share them in a far more convincing manner. Walking that tight rope between biasness and passion makes for a far better essay.