Sometimes ago, a friend of mine expressed, with awe and astonishment, that during the Iranian uprising of 2009, he had witnessed very smart and knowledgeable colleagues support Ahmadinejad. And wondered how it would be possible for someone capable of solving very complex problems in their field of expertise, to not see through the deceptions and manipulative approaches of Ahmadinejad. To me, the answer is obvious, and summarized in two words: “bias blinds”

At the end of 2012, when I worked at a tech company in southern California, the law requiring a temporary reduction in payroll taxes expired. Although the company in general had a very liberal culture, we all knew that the big boss of our department had very right leaning views. I remember a Friday afternoon in January of 2013, possibly the first payday of the year, at the break room, a colleague of mine said the following (while making sure that the department head who was also there to get some tea or coffee, also heard it): “this is what you get when you vote for Obama.”

Now, the temporary reduction in payroll taxes was something that was negotiated by the Obama administration with the Republican led Congress in 2010. It went into effect in 2011, for one year, and the Obama administration fought to extend it, twice, first through February of 2012, and then through the end of 2012. After it expired in December of 2012, we saw an increase in the payroll tax deduction in our first paycheck of 2013. And mind you, Obama had not even started his second term. Yet, it seemed like a perfect opportunity for that colleague of mine to misrepresent the facts so grossly, and in the process, maybe score some points with our department head.

That former colleague of mine is well-read and has a mind sharp like a knife. Yet he supports the orange clown that currently occupies the White House. Even more surprisingly, he believes he is the most unbiased person on the planet. Did he know the entire history of the law on temporary reduction in payroll taxes when he made the above comment? Probably not. Did he, nevertheless, know what he was saying was absolute BS? Most likely yes. Can he see the level of corruption and self-dealings of the current administration including the president himself and his family? Most likely yes. Then why did he say that then, and why Hunter Biden’s laptop is his response to any criticism of Trump’s family now? Because “bias blinds.”

And bias doesn’t come out of nowhere. Oftentimes there is a good explanation for how it forms. In some cases here in the US, it is because somehow people believe that liberals are taking their money and giving it to the poor (and irresponsible) people. So the bias is in reality meant to protect their hard-earned dollars, to make sure that they are gifted to the rich (and sometimes criminal), instead of helping the poor and needy. Because, most of us often picture ourselves as one day becoming one of those rich individuals (nothing wrong about that by the way), but rarely think of unexpected turns of events that could turn the table on us.