A thing of Beauty is joy forever. I never realized how firmly, lines from John Keats' famous verse had established themselves in me, in the form of an unconscious bias, until this very incident happened. While hiking in the lush green terrains of Coorg, with my relatives, we came across a huge, meticulously woven spider web. Trapped in it was a beautiful, most angelic ever butterfly we had seen. The butterfly was fluttering its wings, trying to make every desperate effort to disentangle itself from the web of death. In the corner, sat the owner of the mansion, the spider, staring the prey with most ruthless eyes.
Almost like a reflex, my instinct decided to free this beautiful creature. All my sympathies lined up for the butterfly and I decided to be the hero for this damsel in distress. Before I could make another move, words of wisdom echoed in my ears, with my uncle, standing besides me, suggesting that we should leave it as is and not intervene with the default ways of nature. This kicked off a full-fledged debate with me and my younger cousin teaming up for butterfly's cause; my uncle solely holding the rein for the other side of the argument. His view being very clear that since we are trespassers here, we reserve no right to indulge in what was naturally destined and designed. He tried explaining to us the most intricate and subtle interplays of Nature, the way it works to maintain balance across all living species. He emphasized that there was absolutely no need for us to feel the indignation. This is how laws of forest operate and they should be allowed to, unaltered by any form of artificial interference. With one part of me conceding to his logic, I extricated the other rebelling part by reasserting my authority and accepting his discernment. We continued the hike, leaving behind the spider with its prospective dinner.
The episode got over but the larger moral dilemma still perpetuated back and forth through moral and logic. If it was a small ant or some other ordinary creature from the entire taxonomy of insects, would we have even noticed it. If yes, would that trigger same level of keenness to perform the saviour act. Around us everywhere we see hundreds of spider webs, I never bother to look at the poor souls trapped there and pity their misfortune, let alone the thought of freeing them.The very reason we noticed the spider web and the following debate, was a thing of beauty - the butterfly, which caught our attention. Living as a fully educated individual in a free society, I felt we continue to unknowingly caress some biases we develop over time. It requires many maturity updates to install to your psychological system, and at times conscious efforts to develop a really good sense of judgement. I was small at that time, but with age and experience I absolutely understood and approved each and every word, my uncle said that day. As humans, we already have crossed our line in disturbing the balance of nature. Saving the butterfly that day wasn't obviously any nature-harming act per se, but it was borne out of the same larger tendency to interfere in Nature's activities by exercising control out of one's defined scope.
Extrapolating the thing of beauty bias in a more broader sense, I realize how public wave of sympathy sits on the side of the accused, if he is some popular person, especially a silver screen hero. Mercy is demanded to reduce the harshness of punishment taking into account the stigma on his career and stardom. Although, Law has to be unbiased but building public sentiment of that scale is powerful enough an indicator to prove how unconscious biases can hinder our rational judgement. Time and again, I feel there is a need to identify and curb such unconscious biases, which invisibly influence our decision making. With help of eye-opener incidents followed by some thoughtful introspection, we should ensure that our rational sense of judgement really remains rational.
Almost like a reflex, my instinct decided to free this beautiful creature. All my sympathies lined up for the butterfly and I decided to be the hero for this damsel in distress. Before I could make another move, words of wisdom echoed in my ears, with my uncle, standing besides me, suggesting that we should leave it as is and not intervene with the default ways of nature. This kicked off a full-fledged debate with me and my younger cousin teaming up for butterfly's cause; my uncle solely holding the rein for the other side of the argument. His view being very clear that since we are trespassers here, we reserve no right to indulge in what was naturally destined and designed. He tried explaining to us the most intricate and subtle interplays of Nature, the way it works to maintain balance across all living species. He emphasized that there was absolutely no need for us to feel the indignation. This is how laws of forest operate and they should be allowed to, unaltered by any form of artificial interference. With one part of me conceding to his logic, I extricated the other rebelling part by reasserting my authority and accepting his discernment. We continued the hike, leaving behind the spider with its prospective dinner.
The episode got over but the larger moral dilemma still perpetuated back and forth through moral and logic. If it was a small ant or some other ordinary creature from the entire taxonomy of insects, would we have even noticed it. If yes, would that trigger same level of keenness to perform the saviour act. Around us everywhere we see hundreds of spider webs, I never bother to look at the poor souls trapped there and pity their misfortune, let alone the thought of freeing them.The very reason we noticed the spider web and the following debate, was a thing of beauty - the butterfly, which caught our attention. Living as a fully educated individual in a free society, I felt we continue to unknowingly caress some biases we develop over time. It requires many maturity updates to install to your psychological system, and at times conscious efforts to develop a really good sense of judgement. I was small at that time, but with age and experience I absolutely understood and approved each and every word, my uncle said that day. As humans, we already have crossed our line in disturbing the balance of nature. Saving the butterfly that day wasn't obviously any nature-harming act per se, but it was borne out of the same larger tendency to interfere in Nature's activities by exercising control out of one's defined scope.
Extrapolating the thing of beauty bias in a more broader sense, I realize how public wave of sympathy sits on the side of the accused, if he is some popular person, especially a silver screen hero. Mercy is demanded to reduce the harshness of punishment taking into account the stigma on his career and stardom. Although, Law has to be unbiased but building public sentiment of that scale is powerful enough an indicator to prove how unconscious biases can hinder our rational judgement. Time and again, I feel there is a need to identify and curb such unconscious biases, which invisibly influence our decision making. With help of eye-opener incidents followed by some thoughtful introspection, we should ensure that our rational sense of judgement really remains rational.
