A Broken Mentality

Topic: Perception

A mentality confused by a bias or a prejudiced thought is distorted from the truth through perception. If an idea is crossed by a distorted thought, then the truth can never be known. Georgias said, " Since sense-perception differs from person to person, and even in the same person, the object itself cannot be known." (http://personal.ecu.edu/mccartyr/ancient/athens/Gorgias.htm) In many ways, a common idea or thought can be processed through a bias or prejudiced sense in our own minds without us even realizing that we have done so. Everyday we make choices based on a thought that we have taught ourselves to be the truth. Much in same way someone might say that a white man can't jump, we might direct an average dicision in an incorrect direction based on the same fundamental perception.

There are many times in which I have found myself accusing someone of something based on an inaccurate decision that I myself stumbled across on a biased path. Some of the things I think about a certain race or group of people are derived from a stereotypical point of view. A thought process can be influenced by one person's actions to allow for the racial condemnation of an entire ethnic group. Sometimes in my own life, I have momentarily been brainwashed by my own bias distortions to direct hatred or pity on a particular race. Many times I come to a point of realization that no man or woman should suffer the consequences for another's actions. Desiring the presumption of innocence that I should not be blamed for a racial atrocity in which I have no involvement, I should also give a presumption of innocence to another individual even though the cultural stereotypes lead me in another direction.

I believe that there are many other forms of mental distortions of one's own thought process. Racism, steriotypical accusations, or even a false sense of one's self are just to name a few. I think that in the world in which we live today, a sensible profile of someone's personality is most commonly thought to be derived from that particular person's looks. While this could suggest truth in a number of ways, the motive is wrong. In a sense, someone who is wearing baggy jeans, a thick chain, and a crisp white t-shirt is more apt to like things such as rap music or a deep bass in the trunk of a early model low riding car. In the same sense, is it right to accuse them of being gangsters, robbers, or murderers for that matter? No! It is an inaccurate perception we ourselves have learned to be the truth. In my own life I like to hang out with people of all races and styles, but I didnt start that way. I know that when we see someone commit a crime or hurt someone, we tend to think the same upon all those who remind us of that person. It is a difficult perception to break, but until we do, we can never progress in a world of multi-cultural people..

I believe another major hindrance in our own progress today is an unreliable judgement of circumstance. I think that more times than not, I find that I confuse myself into thinking that something is better or worse that it actually is. In doing so, it is nearly impossible to prepare properly for the occasion to come. Sometimes I tend to make things seem better than they are in order to allow for a regained sense of confidence through others' expressions or words. In the same way, I think we all catch ourselves judging our neighbors on an entirely different standard than the standard we hold in place for ourselves. I think that if we could understand that progress differs from person to person just as perception does, then maybe we could view ourselves more accurately.

Socrates claimed that through knowledge of the self, through knowing where we individually are most likely to distort data, we can come ever closer to perceiving what is truth.(http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/socr.htm) I believe the same. Whether it be racism, a false sense of our own circumstance, or an incorrect stereotype, I believe that we all differ in the way we view life. If we can learn to filter our thoughts and eject all the bias concept, we could begin to progress in a much more sufficient way.