Less biased… more biased – these are pointless terms. Bias is an expression of one’s self interest through one’s actions, and since everyone is pulling in their own direction there is no standard rule against which various biases can be measured. If someone calls one writer more biased than another they are technically saying that this writer expends more effort promoting their self interest – but this is not what they really want to say. What one generally means by such words is that one writer is closer or further away from this thing called the truth – but that this “truth” is a subjective expression of the observer’s self interest and outlook – i.e. their own bias, which, like the eye that stares outward, can never see itself1 – is never recognized. Now, provided there is some agreement on the laws and axioms of our world, some statements will be “further” from the truth than others, but they will not really be any more biased, they will be merely false. When people introduce assessments of bias into their discussion they they do it in order to pass judgements on things which they lack the confidence to call true or false. In other words, they dismiss another’s statement by attacking the character of the person making it rather than by assessing it through means of logic and evidence.
- Apart from a reflection or some other visual projection, which would be akin to having others point out one’s own bias – a second-hand assessment that is itself filtered through another lens.