Bias

I never imagined that efforts to aid our society in overcoming a pandemic would result in so much controversy, cynicism, bitterness, hate, and anger.

For example, last week in Los Angeles, where I live, a fight broke out between those who oppose mask and vaccine mandates and those who support it, resulting in one person being stabbed.

In Texas, if a business has a mask mandate, it could lose its license.

If you are a school district and have a mask mandate in Florida, you are being threatened with losing your salary.

In California, if you refuse the vaccine, then you could potentially lose your job and be denied unemployment.

These positions are different, but they are grounded in the same misguided institutional bias.

The bias is retribution bias. Retribution Bias is the idea that if you punish someone or threaten to punish one, you will end up enacting the change you desire.

If you are a leader in Texas or Florida, and you believe in the free market system, punishing a business for enacting a mandate is contrary to that. You end up killing a small business.

If you are a leader in California and you punish people for not getting a vaccine, then you take away someone’s job. Still, you also assume that someone will walk right and take the job and that there are no consequences to tossing someone out of their job.

You can’t in one breath talk about empathy and quote Brene Brown, and then shame someone into complying with your desires.

I am vaccinated, my wife is vaccinated, and my 12-year old son is vaccinated.

I have to wear masks to work every day, and I have to do health screenings daily.

Do I have an answer or a policy to propose? Nope, none at all. However, with all of our talk about getting rid of bias in society, I think that we need to take a closer look at retribution bias and the consequences of our actions.