BIAS AND PREJUDICE

By Jorge D. Lomboy
September 14, 2015



Every life is intertwined with bias and prejudice.  Every human being is interwoven with bias and prejudice.  Both bias and prejudice are inherent in our human nature for we are frail and faulty with our imperfections and deficiencies.  Bias and prejudice are a veritable source of conflict.  They magnetize controversy for there is nothing perfectly clear and clean in the dispensation of justice.  Our legal system is not free of bias and prejudice.  

Our judicial system is never free of bias and prejudice.  A government of laws has become a government of men where subjectivity rather than objectivity taints the justice system with bias and prejudice.  This status quo hasn’t changed in spite of our legal system that upholds the supremacy of law over men.

We have been told that math is an exact science and they say numbers don’t lie.  In my arithmetic class I remember my teacher relating a story about three guys who ate in a restaurant.  The waitress charged a total price of $30 for their meals.  Each of them shelled out $10 and the waitress took the tab and the money to the cashier.  But the cashier noted that they were overcharged.  The correct price was $25 and the cashier gave five singles to be returned to the three guys.  The waitress then gave back to each of them $1 and kept $2 for her tip.  With this, each of them had paid $9 for his meal.  9 multiplied by 3 equals 27, and this is the correct answer in any part of the globe.  27 plus 2 equals 29, which is the arithmetically correct answer in any part of the globe.  Where is the remaining one dollar was the question that created an uproar in the class.

We use numbers to add, subtract, multiply and divide to get the correct answer.  Numbers have no biases and prejudices but words do have biases and prejudices.  In arithmetic or in math there is only one correct answer.  There is no such thing as good answer, better answer or best answer.  The answer is either entirely correct or entirely incorrect.  The reason is simple: a number is exact and is not capable of different meanings.  A number has nothing to do with argument, nothing to do with logic and nothing to do with reason.  On the contrary, a word is not exact.  It has something to do with argument, it has something to do with logic and has something to do with reason.  That is why a bunch of words are a cause of confusion and misunderstanding.  A word could be understood differently for its meaning could be perceived and interpreted differently.  We reveal our biases and prejudices in the use of words and not in the use of numbers.

Argument, logic and reason are a cluster and clutter of words competing to prove one’s guilt or innocence.  Guilt and innocence are determined by words expressed in judgments made.  We use words to prove our case and we use numbers to prove our claim.  We use words in testimonial evidence to establish preponderance of evidence or proof beyond a reasonable doubt.  Argument, logic, reason and testimonial evidence from both sides are the things we weigh to ascertain what is right and what is wrong.  Words oral or written constitute a record of the case we use to render justice.  Arithmetic and math, numbers and numerals are free of bias and prejudice.  But the uncanny use of words in decisions, judgments, orders and rulings subtly reflect bias and prejudice.  Bias and prejudice in the use of words usher miscarriage of justice even as we know that it is a thousand times better to acquit the guilty than to convict the innocent.

When we speak of monetary gains and losses we refer to numbers, numerals and figures and not to words.  Profit or gain is the excess of the selling price of goods over their cost, the net income usually for a given period of time.  It is the compensation accruing to entrepreneurs for the assumption of risk in a business enterprise as distinguished from wages or rent.  Monetary losses means failure of profit or gain.  It is the amount by which the cost of something exceeds its selling price.  Monetary gains and losses are measured not by words of argument, logic or reason but by the use of numbers, numerals and figures which are bereft of bias and prejudice.  Gains and losses in business deal with numbers, numerals and figures.  That is why the truth is never put to question.

Bias and prejudice come from the story of a restaurant owner from the old country who kept his daily cash returns in a cash register, his accounts payable in a cigar box on the left side of the cash register and his receipts for paid bills in another box on the right.  His accountant son, appalled by his father’s primitive bookkeeping system, remarked one day, “I don’t see how you can run a business that way.  How do you know what your profits are?” “Well son,” the father replied, “when I got off the boat from overseas, I had nothing but the pants I was wearing.  Today, your brother is a lawyer, your sister is a doctor and you are an accountant.  Your mother and I have a nice car, a city house and a country home.  We have a good business and everything is paid for.  So you add all that together, subtract the pants and there is your profit.”  Wow.

Our justice system is based on law, fact and evidence presented before a judge and a jury of men.  The judge properly conducts the proceedings.  The prosecution and defense present their arguments.  The jury is properly instructed to decide guilt or innocence based on facts and evidence.  And this is how the system works.  This is invariably the procedure in the dispensation of justice in our judicial system.  What is not mentioned, however, is the fact that judges are not angels, juries are not saints and lawyers are not holy.  What we tend to overlook is that both the prosecution and defense interpret our laws subjectively to suit their case rather than interpret them objectively.  Subjective interpretation is a source of bias and prejudice in our judicial system which puts a government of laws into a government of men.  I firmly believe that a justice system based on law is heavily flawed because judges, juries and lawyers use words and not numbers to determine guilt or innocence.

I do not know of anyone who is completely free of bias and prejudice.  I have yet to meet someone who is entirely free of bias and prejudice.  But for as long as we are human, we are married to wrongdoing, welded to error of mind and error of heart, and glued to bias and prejudice.  Officers of the law tasked to enforce laws, justices commissioned to interpret laws and lawyers engaged to practice law are never, ever free of bias and prejudice.  Our likes and dislikes are never the same.  Our ideologies and morals are never the same.  Our character and values are never the same.  Our interests and priorities are never the same.  Our allegiances and loyalties are never the same.  Our hearts and minds are never the same.  A wide variety in these areas instinctively reveals and subconsciously capitulates to bias and prejudice.

It is true that all men are created equal but it is a big lie to say that all men are treated equal.  Justice for all is a judicial slogan that has turned into a nightmare.  Equal justice under law is mission impossible for law is neither math nor numbers which are exact but words and citations where guilt or innocence depend on the language of the tongue which is the most dangerous part of the human body.  Equal protection of law is a constitutional right that is abjured by social inequities in the kind of treatment given to people based on the color of their skin.  Due process of law is a right to be fully heard given to those who can afford to pay the cost of justice.  That same right is given as a matter of courtesy to those who cannot afford to pay the cost of justice.  I can’t stop the truth from proving that justice for all, equal justice under law, equal protection of law and due process are for the birds, especially since these rights are intercepted frequently or curtailed entirely in a judicial system scented with bias and prejudice.