The 'Silent' Invaders: How Implicit Bias Hijacks Elections

"The 'Silent' Invaders: How Implicit Bias Hijacks Elections"

[00:00:00] [00:01:00] [00:02:00] There are these subtle, often unseen influences shaping our news and narratives. Those sneaky, unintentional slants that color our perceptions. Without us even realizing are proliferating our news and controlling our thoughts. Is it aliens? No. I've got some explaining to do. Let's get into it. [00:03:00] Hey everybody, welcome back for another episode of Ayanna Explains It All. The podcast that bridges the gap between current events and human behavior. Hosted by me, Ayanna Fakir, your Black Muslim lady lawyer. I'm Live from the suburbs, well not live, recorded in the suburbs of Northeast Ohio. I am recording this on Wednesday, July 24th, 2024. And I hope you will stick around for the entire program. Ayanna Explains It All is available on many, many different streaming platforms, including our website of ayannaexplainsitall. com. That's www. ayannaexplainsitall.com. A Y A N A [00:04:00] explains EX P L A I N S 

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I do this all by myself. So when you leave a question or a comment, I'm the one who's reading and responding to it. It's not some stranger. No, I would never do that to you. I would never do that to you. I love you too much. I don't even know you and I love you. Anyway, every once in a while this happens, I go through and write a script for an entire and then something big happens, and then I have to retool the episode.

That is what happened this time. I was supposed to record this on last Sunday , and then something else happened, and then I had to rewrite it. President Joseph R. Biden Jr. dropping out of the presidential race changed how I, how I was going to do this discussion and the discussion is about, um, implicit bias.

I have covered [00:07:00] implicit bias before in season one. I don't know the episode number, but go back to season one. I covered microaggressions and implicit bias, and I was going to talk about implicit bias because of the, the, the way the media. Has been treating this, um, elderly man who is president of the United States with, uh, making jokes about his age, about his stutter, about his health conditions, and how these things are framing voters choices.

And I was going to use him as an example, and I was going to throw in some other examples. And then he dropped out of the race.

And, instead of using Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the, the example, one of the examples, I'm going to instead focus on Vice President Kamala Harris, and I'm not doing this because I don't want you to vote for her.

Listen, you vote for whoever the you want to [00:08:00] vote for this. Her entering this race, this presidential race has brought up some really nasty, nasty behavior. Out of many people, disgusting, ignorant statements levied against her, accusations, allegations, lies, but a lot of it is being pushed by the media.

media sources, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News. By the way, I have blocked all these MFers on all of my social medias because they, when, uh, Biden was after that disastrous debate that he had with, uh, with what's his name, the orangey orange. The media became unbearable. Unbearable. Oh, he's so old. He's old. He's an old man.

He's old. He's too old to do this. He can't do this. He's old. He should drop out because he's old. He should resign because he's old. I mean, it was over and over. Do you think [00:09:00] he can do it? He can't do it. We don't think he can do it. The American people don't have confidence in him and his ability to do it.

And it was just so, I just, I quit all of them. I quit all of them. All of them. Not because I'm in love with Joe Biden. You know, I have my quarrels with the man. As I always say, if you want to criticize him, there's enough. As far as his policies are concerned for you to do that. You don't have to use age and health.

You don't have to do the ageism. You don't have to do the ableist comments. You don't need to do that. There are real policy criticisms you can make but those things are sometimes higher than a lot of people's thinking can go. And so they go for the low hanging fruit. The, oh, he's old and ugly. He can't speak well.

He can't put together a sentence. People were diagnosing him with all kinds of neurological disorders. Maybe he has Parkinson's. Maybe he has dementia. Maybe he is old. Just being silly and stupid because they can't formulate a better [00:10:00] argument. If you notice, when people resort to Name calling and, uh, accusing, accusing, in quotes, you of having some kind of mental impairment or whatever.

It's because they, they don't have a better argument. They can't improve their argument, so they resort to those things. And in that case, you just have to let them, you know, blather on. Because at that point, you can't beat them. You'll just look as stupid as them if you resort to their behavior. So I had to quit all of those, uh, following all of those things and reading all of all of those stories and, and whatever I had really quit them last year, but I was still following them on social media just to get updates about different things that are going on in the world. And last, the last two weeks are just unbearable.

A lot of the podcasts that I had been listening to quit those too, because people are just bucking. They will, they're the leopards that eat your face, right? You're the leopard owner and they're the leopards [00:11:00] that you think aren't going to eat your face and they eat your face. And so we got to be careful who we listen to and who we put our trust in to inform us, to lead us even, and to determine for us what our choices should be.

And a lot of News media, especially these big ones, they use implicit bias to shape people's opinions, to shape viewer opinions. Because they want you to believe certain things. They want you to latch on to certain ideas. And it's whatever they decide is important. Um, even on social media, social media does this, especially Twitter with Elon Musk, he, he really only bought Twitter to exert some kind of political influence.

And so he gets to say what themes are allowed. He allows a lot of racism. He allows a lot of sexism on that site, whereas before he bought it, some of those things were [00:12:00] filtered out. They were screened out and people's accounts would get suspended if they would leave comments that were racist or sexist or, or in any way offensive in that nature.

Now you can say whatever you want and people are just disgusting, disgusting. I know today published was a list of accounts that Twitter had deemed could never be, um, Suspended for violating guidelines, community guidelines, and so, and all of these were right wing accounts, accounts that promote right wing, information, news, candidates, all that, all that kind of stuff, but they were also accounts that promote racist ideas.

And the overlord at Twitter has decided that these are the people who will be disseminating information above all else, above all, above everyone. Their accounts will get priority.

They'll be allowed to say whatever they want and there's nothing you can do [00:13:00] about it. He's given priority to these. And why has he done that? Because he wants to control the narrative on his app. He wants his app to be something where people with extreme ideas that favor him, by the way, Are allowed to speak freely.

I mean, if you have your own social media app, fine, go for it, do whatever the hell you want, but it's crazy to me that people will still get on these apps and think that they're not being manipulated. You're completely, you're being manipulated. You are, you're being manipulated and whether you want to admit it or not, it's affecting how you think it's affecting how you feel about people, about your own neighbors.

It's affecting what, you know, a lot of you have some holes that need to be filled in and you're filling them in with junk. And this all feeds into implicit [00:14:00] bias. Implicit bias is, are those unconscious attitudes or stereotypes affecting our actions and decisions. And I'm going to use politics as an example, political media, political candidates, implicit bias in politics refers specifically to the unconscious attitudes and stereotypes and beliefs that influence our perceptions and actions towards political figures like Kamala Harris and Joe Biden.

And yes, even the orangey orange. But as well as their policies and political events.

Now, these biases are often ingrained through cultural exposure, but also media consumption and personal experiences. And they operate outside of our conscious awareness. And [00:15:00] so we may not really, we may, it's not something that is explicit. So, and they operate outside of our conscious. Awareness. Implicit bias is, you know, like your smartphones autocorrect and it works behind the scenes, sometimes making things awkward

 This snake that is implicit bias tends to show its head during times of crisis, like elections, like this election right now is kind of a crisis for some people. Terror attacks, school shootings, a pandemic, Middle Easterners become terrorists during a terrorist attack, even if they had nothing to do with it.

And COVID 19, what were we encouraged to call that? The China virus, the Chinese virus, and then people from Asia. Eastern Asians were being [00:16:00] attacked in the US

you, you don't want, anytime people think of what's a bad political candidate, somebody will say, I don't want any old white men running the country telling me what to do. Old white men, you know, there are old black people and old Hispanic people and there are old Asians. In government, telling you what to do, but I don't want some old white man telling me what to do.

Implicit bias is present in everything, ads, policing, artificial intelligence, even healthcare, dining, employment, the service industry. And so it's not possible in one episode to cover all of these facets of implicit bias. Because of this broad spectrum, it's a broad spectrum of habits and behaviors with cognitive and scientific factors.

It's sociological, it's psychological, it's scientific. It's [00:17:00] beyond, it's exhaustive and it's beyond the scope of this podcast. So, I'm going to focus on just one branch of implicit bias and that is Implicit bias in political news, political media as voters often wait for who their newspaper, who their favorite news media outlet or favorite news channel endorses or pushes during the election cycle before they will make a decision in voting.

 I'm here to tell you that's a big mistake because you're allowing someone else to make an important decision about your future, your community's future based on what they consider to be good characteristics of a candidate.

Not taking into account what matters to the voter. And so that's why you have to do the research on the candidates. .

And this a criticism a lot of people have of the Democratic Party that they don't have [00:18:00] of the Republican Party. Republicans are party loyalists. They vote for whoever they're told to vote for. Whoever. Whoever's name makes it out of the primary and they're the official candidate, that's who they're voting for.

They don't, they don't care. This person is sexist, and ageist, and ableist,

I like a little bit of critiquing of your party and the candidates that tells me that you are an informed voter, that you've actually read, you know, for instance, a political candidate, you read their platform. You've read their record, if they've already been in government, you've read their voting record, you've read what bills they've tried to, to introduce and have passed.

And you read what they have been doing this, the time that they've been in office, whether it's two years or four years or one year, and you made your decision based on your analysis of their record, not, well, my newspaper said this person is a good person, or my dad told me to vote [00:19:00] for this person. Or my family has always voted Republican, so I'm just going to keep voting Republican.

That's how we get into trouble.

 Imagine your brain is a sponge. The brain is often compared to a sponge and it's daily now soaking up media. cultural cues, and your aunt's questionable opinions at Thanksgiving. Implicit bias is born from the same place as our childhood fears of the dark, of monsters under the bed, but our implicit bias comes from these things. It comes from our environment. From the moment we're born, we're bombarded with cultural cues, societal norms, and these endless, often questionable, wisdom of our elders. Implicit bias affects everything, everything, [00:20:00] from your choice of breakfast cereal to voting patterns.

And the problem with implicit bias is that it doesn't stay tucked away in your brain's drafts. It comes out to play in real life situations, sometimes disastrous results. Consider your workplace. Implicit bias can affect hiring practices, promotions, and even daily interactions with your coworkers and your managers.

In education, it can shape how teachers perceive and treat students. And in healthcare, bias can influence the quality of care patients receive. For instance, studies have shown that doctors might unconsciously prescribe different treatments to patients. It's based on a patient's race or gender. It's like when you go to a restaurant and they serve you a smaller portion because the waiter assumes you're on a diet.[00:21:00]

It's the implicit bias is annoying and it's unfair and why we continue to employ it to make decisions is because we are constantly bombarded with messages and we're not filtering out the bad ones. We're not filtering them out.

So let's take a detour into the world of politics where implicit bias really is the uninvited guest at every party.

Consider media coverage of politicians. Now, one network might describe a politician's speech as inspiring, while another calls it delusional. Same event, different perspectives. Let's use the 2024 election as an example, because we're here. We're in the midst of it. It's ramped up. Implicit bias is on full display, right? Joseph Biden's so [00:22:00] called inability to string together a sentence and his mental health, his, um, even him having COVID. These things are treated like the scandals of the century.

Whereas Donald Trump's felony convictions, 34 counts by the way, he was found guilty. And he was also found liable for sexual assault. Those things are swept under the rug. They're dismissed. Just like it's another Tuesday. It's like comparing a parking ticket to a bank robbery.

One's annoying. The other one's a felony. And I'll let you guess which one is treated as simply annoying. And people on the right or the red side are not as bothered by Trump's indiscretions as they are by watching Joe Biden just breathe. And now Kamala Harris just exists.[00:23:00]

The mere presence of her, the fact that she is, um, the child of a black Jamaican man and an Indian woman. The fact that she was born to immigrants, the fact that she attended an HBCU, the fact that she had a whole life, a whole life and a career. The fact that she doesn't have biological children, she has two stepchildren.

The fact that she, um, worked as a prosecutor and she was attorney general in California. Those things are treated like they're scandals, like scandalous. They're just, just benign things. Everybody, you know, I know works, has a career. I'm a lawyer. I, you know, I know other lawyers. So what? Who cares? I have two kids.

I'm a single mom of two kids. Whoop dee doo! Why are these indictments [00:24:00] against her? Why are these indictments against her? Why is someone's health an indictment against them? And someone who's actually been indicted and found guilty, barely registers as a fart in the media.

And if you look at these news stories lately, you would think that it's the worst thing that has happened to the United States, is that this black woman, Is running for president. Republicans have never ran a black woman as a vice president, as a vice presidential candidate or a presidential candidate ever, never, ever, they've never nominated one, they've never ran one. And so for them, this is shocking. It's, I mean, they are shaking in their boots. And why? It's simply because she's black, but also because she's a woman.

I have on Twitter, I made a list. It's a running [00:25:00] list of all of the ridiculous excuses is. I have read or heard people use as to why Vice President Harris should not be running for president and should not be president at all.

And so far I think I have 36, and I mean these are not even like, Uh, lightweight criticisms. These are pretty disgusting, ignorant things that people are saying. And you know, you ain't got to like this lady. You don't have to, you don't have to like her. You don't have to vote for her, but what you also don't have to be as a racist prick, you don't have to be a sexist pig.

You don't have to be any of those things. There are real valid reasons to criticize her and her candidacy. There are real policy reasons. There's plenty of ammunition. You don't have to be that nasty, opinionated piece of shit that calls somebody colored [00:26:00] or that calls someone a DEI hire. This is the new thing that's being used.

Instead of calling people the n word, instead of saying nigger, people are saying, uh, well, she's a DEI hire. Anytime they see a black person surrounded by a bunch of white people and that black person is in the position of power, oh well she's a DEI hire. They used to call us tokens, now they call us DEI hires.

I don't think it'll ever, we'll ever get to a point in this country where black people having power means that we earned it and we deserve to be there. No, someone must have given us some kind of favor. They're doing a favor for us. They're trying to diversify their workforce by having us here. No, bitch, we're fucking smart.

And I tell you what, because black women have to be twice as good and twice as smart, twice as hard working as everyone else to get ahead. We are so prepared for this fight. We are so prepared. We're more prepared than you [00:27:00] think, than you know. You see the way black women came together to raise money for Kamala Harris.

The day she announced her fucking candidacy, the day she announced it, millions of dollars were raised 81 million in 24 hours. We are prepared. We have all, we, we have this power that you all think we're getting from other sources. No, honey. It is internal. There's nothing external giving us this. It's internal.

That is why we are winning and you're doubting our ability to do anything good on our own. You're doubting our power. You're doubting that we got to where we are because we worked for it. We always work for it, honey. We always work. We have to work. We have to. We have to work twice as hard as you. And ain't that a shame.

But you don't give a fuck.

You know, implicit bias can [00:28:00] affect how voters perceive the competence. Trustworthiness and likability of candidates. For example, research has shown that female politicians often face biased perceptions regarding their leadership abilities compared to their male counterparts.

Implicit bias also rears its head in how policies are discussed. When, uh, President Obama pushed for healthcare reform, it was hailed as transformative by some and socialist by others. When similar ideas came from Bernie Sanders, the labels shifted to pipe dream and radical. In Kentucky, the governor changed the name of the expanded Medicaid program, from ACA and Obamacare to, I think it's KC, it was KYC Net or something like that, KY Net.

Because he knew that the rural, especially the rural white and Republican [00:29:00] voters would not go for expanding Medicaid if it was attached to President Obama, if it was attached to a black man. And I read this book called Dying of Whiteness and the author goes over that in detail about how people literally hate, hate.

The ACA and Obamacare because it came from president Obama, a black man, but they love the benefits of it. And those who lived in states where Medicaid had not been expanded at the time. were suffering, they were suffering because they did not have medical coverage. They were having to pay for things that they didn't believe they should have to pay for that.

They were too expensive and they wish they had better healthcare, but they would not support for, they would not show support for expanding Medicaid [00:30:00] because that's Obamacare and we hate Obama. So they were literally killing themselves. Their votes, their voting, their policy choices, their political candidate choices were killing them.

They were not pressing their government to expand Medicaid because, well, those are Democrat socialist programs. But if a Democrat had come in and called it something else, Oh, yeah, we love that. Oh, we love that. That's not Obamacare. No, that's not ACA. It absolutely is. People might support or oppose policies, not based on the content, but on who was proposing them. A policy suggested by a politician from one's preferred party might be seen as beneficial while the same policy proposed by an opposition politician might be viewed negatively. So, in, in terms of the news media, [00:31:00] imagine two news outlets covering the same protest. Imagine news outlets covering protests against the genocide in Gaza and covering a protest for the, uh, hostages to be released from Hamas by Jewish people.

One headline reads, Passionate Citizens Rally for Change, while the other declares, Uh, Unruly Mob Storms the Capitol, Disrupts the City. It's the same event, same location, but wildly different portrayals. In fact, Netanyahu, Satan himself, was invited to speak before Congress. And there were demonstrations outside at the Capitol while inside he was being, you know, people were kissing his ring, shaking his hand, jizzing all over [00:32:00] themselves for this dude.

And the portrayal of this, how they're presented as being, sensible and respectful. But then the protesters were. are presented as being unruly and ungrateful and disrespectful and lacking compassion and understanding. And I would say that the people inside of the building lack compassion and understanding more than the people outside of the building.

But that's just my opinion. But the language used in media coverage can significantly influence the How events are perceived. It's like describing a blind date as interesting versus a train wreck. Words matter. And then there's selective reporting where media outlets highlight certain aspects of a story while downplaying others, often aligning with the, with their audience's biases.

Consider the coverage of male versus [00:33:00] female candidates. Male politicians might be described as assertive and strong, while female politicians with similar traits might be labeled bossy or aggressive. Kamala Harris, VP Harris.

She's the first female vice president of the United States. She often faces different media scrutiny compared to her male counterparts. Her assertiveness can be labeled as aggressive or overbearing, while similar behavior in male politicians might be described as strong or decisive.

During the 2020 campaign, in fact, she was frequently questioned about her likability. And that is what they're doing today. They're questioning her likability. Nobody is questioning Trump's likability. Nobody is questioning Trump's likability. And that likability metric is less commonly applied to male candidates anyway.[00:34:00]

Another example, um, AOC, Representative Ocasio Cortez, she's a Latina congresswoman. She often faces media bias that frames her progressive policies as radical. Or extreme, her advocacy for issues like her Green New Deal, they're sometimes depicted as unrealistic, while similar ambitious policies from white male politicians might be portrayed as visionary.

And then there's Ilhan Omar, my sister, and as name as a Somali American Muslim Congresswoman Ilhan Omar frequently encounters biased coverage that highlights her religion and ethnicity. Sometimes framing her as unpatriotic or a threat, this kind of portrayal reinforces stereotypes and overlooks her legislative work and contributions.

And we see bias in news in the way [00:35:00] news stories are reported on. News stories often rely on stereotypes, consciously or unconsciously. For instance, crime stories frequently depict suspects of certain racial backgrounds more negatively. Hint, hint, black people. This perpetuates harmful stereotypes. and influences public perception.

It's like always casting the same type of characters in movies. It gets predictable and reinforces stereotypes. And visual bias is another subtle form of implicit bias in media. The choice of images media uses can shape how we perceive a story. Consider this example. One showing a politician with a thoughtful expression.

And then another with them caught in an unflattering moment. The former conveys, the former would convey competence, while the latter can make them seem foolish. And as I referenced before, [00:36:00] my list over on Twitter, go check out my personal Twitter. Law Girl, L A W G U R R L and this list that I have going is in my highlights.

And Kamala Harris has had her fair share of encounters with implicit bias, and it's a very serious issue recently. When a male politician is ambitious, he's often seen as a go getter, a visionary. It's a whole different story when it comes to a woman.

The headlines scream, Is Kamala Harris too ambitious? As if striving for success is a character flaw. Is she doing too much? Is she flying too close to the sun? Maybe she should sit this one out. Again, as if striving for success is a character flaw. It certainly is when it comes to black women, right? We shouldn't want to be successful because maybe there's [00:37:00] a white man somewhere who could do it better than us.

People also take issue with her, her character. Facial expressions and her laugh. People take issue with her laugh. Fox News, some news program the other day did a whole segment on her laugh. If people will like it, is it too much? Why is she doing this? Her laugh has been the subject of countless news articles.

Is it too loud? Is it too forced? Is it too frequent? It's like she's, you know, the fucking Goldilocks of political scrutiny. Meanwhile, her male counterparts can grin and grimace. Fox News. They can sport a perpetual frown. They can lie. They can slur through their speeches. They can say all kinds of offensive and disgusting things.

Without much fuss. Without much fuss. But if she laughs in the middle of a sentence, Oh, there she [00:38:00] goes with that laugh again. She sounds stupid. She looks stupid. Why does she do that? She's picked apart for being a fucking human being.

She has a powerful voice. She has a powerful voice, literally and figuratively. But when she speaks firmly, she's often labeled as shrill or aggressive. Now, if a male politician raises his voice, He's commanding and authoritative and \ if a woman did that, if Harris did that, oh, oh, why is she saying that? Why is she talking like that? Oh my god, what is wrong with her? She also faces the impossible balancing act of being both relatable and presidential. When she dances. Where she laughs. You'll see these videos on social media. For some reason, this is deemed unprofessional. Really? Dancing? Singing? Laughing? [00:39:00] Are you all hearing this? Just Things that human beings do, showing that they're human and alive and full of effervescence and having a good time or they're happy.

You know, they're internally comfortable with themselves and they're feeling good. It's deemed offensive and unprofessional. But when she's serious, she's criticized for lacking warmth and depth. And then there's the matter of her name, which, listen, y'all are gonna get this right. It come hella hot water.

It's Kamala. Kamala. Like Kamala. Kamala. Not, not Kamala, not Kamala. Kamala. No, not Kamala. Kamala. Kamala, Kamala, Kam. The number of ways people have butchered her name. I heard someone call her Camila today. Not just someone, but a fucking news anchor called her [00:40:00] Camila. The fact that people continue to butcher her name, it's astounding to me.

She said her name, she's pronounced her name. She said, this is how you know what I experienced the same thing I experienced. I've been dealing with this since I was a little kid. And there have been people who insist. Insist on mispronouncing my name. And I just don't, I don't answer those people. I don't answer to them.

If you're gonna be a dick, guess what? I'm going to pretend like I have a headache and I'm not in the mood.

But people insist on mispronouncing her name and there's a new creative pronunciation waiting to surprise you when they have to talk about her. it's like a game show. Guess how they'll mispronounce Kamala today. With contestants competing for the most inventive mispronunciation. It's ridiculous.

And you know, her race is also an issue for people, which You don't have any [00:41:00] control over what race you are. You don't have any control over who your parents are. But politicians from minority backgrounds often face stereotypical portrayals. For example, And it's an assertive stance by a black politician.

Of course, it's going to be framed as angry and aggressive, while a similar stance by a white, a white politician will be seen as passionate and determined. The media might emphasize a minority politician's race or ethnicity, often at the expense of discussing their policies as they have been doing with vice president Harris for the last few days.

The conversations about her race have become so small and stupid. You would think the only thing she's done her entire life is be a black and Indian person. The only thing she's actually [00:42:00] been in political office for some decades. She was a Senator. She's vice president. She was attorney general of California.

There's a lot to talk about, but people want to focus on her race. And her ethnicity and her cultural background. It's ridiculous. But the media is emphasizing her race and ethnicity to be divisive really, and often at the expense of discussing her policies. And this can pigeonhole a candidate into being seen primarily as representatives of their race rather than as leaders with a broad agenda.

So when people moan on about how, you guys only want to want us to vote for her because she's black. Well, that's all the fuck these people are focusing on is the fact that she's black. We could talk about policy. You all don't want to talk about policy. You want to talk about her sexual background, her dating history.

You want to talk [00:43:00] about, what she did when she was in college and the cases she prosecuted, she, what she did when she was a little girl, where she lived, where she was born. She was born in California, by the way, a state of the United States. Instead of focusing on her policies, you all want to focus on these things.

It's not Democrats saying, Hey, vote for this lady because she's black. No, it's the media focusing on her race and ethnicity. The media is focusing on her race and ethnicity. We are not. If you're a Democrat and you want to vote for her, cause she's also the Democratic candidate go right ahead. But a lot of people are not voting for her because she is black.

They're voting for her because they want her. They want her to be their president. But it is the media that continues to focus on her race and her ethnicity and her gender and her, uh, her marriage and her, her devotion to [00:44:00] President Biden and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. That becomes everything that we talk about.

That becomes the highlight. And so you think that's why she's running. You think that's why she has the nomination. You think that's why people are voting for her, but it is not the truth. You gotta sift through the bullshit. You gotta sift through it. You're being manipulated. You're being manipulated. And because you spend so much time online looking at things and just reading these little snippets, these little blurbs, these little headlines, these bold, tight headlines, And not actually reading some fucking books, reading some journal articles.

You're not actually out talking to people. You're not having conversations with people. You don't know anything except what you're being fed. All you know is what you're being fed. Like that lie that's been circulating about VP Harris, about her [00:45:00] time as a prosecutor. I've heard anything from she locked up hundreds of thousands of black men, to she locked up, she had, uh, black men on death row.

And, none of this shit is true! It's not true! It isn't true, and this lie has been circulating for years. And every time someone corrects it, Somebody else goes, well, that's not what I read. What you read was not the truth. Why doesn't the truth matter to you people? Why doesn't the truth matter to you people?

I don't understand it. You want to be lied to? You want to believe lies? Now that's a mental illness right there.

You know, charismatic candidates often receive more positive media coverage, which can be driven by implicit bias.[00:46:00]

And scandals are treated differently. The way the debate questions are framed can reflect implicit bias. And responses. to questions are often interpreted through biased lenses. Voters decisions are influenced by stereotypes perpetuated by implicit bias. For example, younger candidates might be seen as, might be seen as inexperienced regardless of their qualifications, while older candidates are wise or out of touch.

Social media and news algorithms create echo chambers where implicit biases are reinforced and voters see content. That aligns with their existing beliefs, making it hard to break out of biased thinking. It's like only eating comfort food and never trying the new cuisine. It's safe, but it's limiting.

Even campaign strategies employ implicit bias through targeted [00:47:00] messaging where they use targeted emails and targeted mailers that employ fear based tactics. For one demographic and hope based messages for another, playing into existing biases. I saw one video on TikTok today where the person, she lives in Georgia, and she was sent a mailer saying that Georgians spend, under Biden's inflation, Georgians spend an extra 1, 000, however many dollars.

On basic necessities every month, and they calculated the basic necessities, the amount that was being spent as . Ridiculous. It was like 200 Coca-Colas, 200 sodas, and then 200 bags of peanuts. And she was like, how are these essentials? How are these essentials? But they sent this to Georgia voters [00:48:00] because Coca-Cola, the plant is in Georgia Peanuts.

Peanut Farmers, Georgia. So these people get these negative messages. That appeal to some snack food that they might enjoy, but some stereotypical shit that they, you know, people associate with Georgia. Although I would also, I would have used peaches and onions. But it's ridiculous. These people get that message.

And so somewhere else, someone else is getting a different message and it'll be a message of hope about the opposing candidate. But these targeted mailers are just another way to manipulate voters. It's really dangerous out here if you're not careful, if you don't know what you're reading, if you don't know that you're being manipulated, if you don't know that people are doing this because they're trying to keep you from, they're trying to keep you from voting a certain way, [00:49:00] hoping that it will compel you to vote another way.

And also, you know, celebrities, their influence and endorsements go a long way. George Clooney, for some reason, decided to come out against President Biden and that seemed to, to resonate with a lot of people and me, I'm just like, I don't give a fuck who, who cares who George Clooney, I don't care about these people.

I don't care who Taylor Swift or Beyonce are voting for, who they're, who they're, uh, throwing parties for. I don't care. I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. It means nothing to me. It's meaningless to me. Amber Rose gets to speak at the Republican National Convention and people are all up in arms. And I'm just like, who gives a fuck?

I don't vote for anybody based on who the hell she says to vote for. That would make me an idiot. They can vote for whoever the hell they want, but it's not gonna change me. [00:50:00] But these endorsements and influences mean something to other people. And impressionable minds, impressionable young minds, they're looking at these people as, as people of influence.

These people who probably aren't even registered to vote, some of these people who are speaking can't even vote, some of these people don't even live in the fucking United States. George Clooney doesn't even live here most of the year. He's in a fucking castle in Greece or Italy or wherever the fuck.

I'm supposed to care what he thinks about US politics? He was wealthy enough to give each of his friends, each of his close friends a million dollars and I'm supposed to care what he thinks? No, honey, I do not.

You have to recognize bias, particularly implicit bias in political coverage and discourse. It's essential if you want to make an informed decision. And yes, I'm going to give you strategies for recognizing [00:51:00] implicit bias and for combating it, swatting it. First of all, diversify your news sources, please, please.

You can't just have one news source and it probably should not be a cable news network. I'm just gonna, don't, it should not be a cable news network. Those things are so biased, it's not even funny. They are so disgustingly biased that you're probably not even getting a tenth of the story, the real story that they're telling you.

And it's peppered with opinions. If you can't get a news story without somebody's opinion being interjected, cut it off. Consuming news from a variety of sources with different political leanings helps you see different perspectives, obviously. If you can find them, if you can find them. It seems that nowadays, a lot of the media is very conservative leaning.

CNN, [00:52:00] MSNBC, very, I mean, CNN has gone completely conservative. They're like, uh, the country club. If Fox News is the Klan meeting, CNN is the country club.

And MSNBC might be the separate drinking fountains.

But, you know, look at these things and compare how the same story is covered by a left leaning or right leaning and a centrist outlet. And fact check, fact check, fact check, fact check, oh my god. I'm gonna pass out saying that. Because people aren't doing this. You're being told things and you're not checking.

People will get on these news stories or on social media and they will blurt out statistics. And there will be people who will just agree with them and go, Oh my God, you're so right, that's so true. And here I am on Google like, Mm mm mm, do do do do, boop boop boop boop boop. Oh, would you look [00:53:00] at that?

He's actually not telling the truth! And then I'll go back and I'll say, Well, actually, yes, I'm one of those people who does well actually because some of y'all just be fucking lying. Some of y'all just lie. You lie a lot. You should not allow someone to mislead you. Here at Ayanna Explains it all, we dealing facts and figures. I use a variety of sources, honey. Variety. Left leaning, right leaning, white people, black people, Latinos, Asians. I use a lot of different sources from a lot of places. Lots. I don't stick to one source.

Absolutely not. No. You have to analyze also. Analyze language and tone by watching for loaded language. Pay attention to emotionally charged words and [00:54:00] phrases like slammed. Exposed or outraged, those can indicate a biased perspective. Neutral language is usually a sign of more objective reporting. Again, neutral language is usually a sign of more objective reporting.

Evaluate headlines as headlines often carry bias. Look for sensationalism or framing that suggests a particular point, a particular viewpoint. A headline like a politician fights for change versus politician A's radical proposals shows clear bias and framing. And also consider the source. Check the source's reputation.

Evaluate the credibility and track record of the news source. Research the author. Research the author. Research the author. Look into the background of the journalist or [00:55:00] commentator. Their past work and public statements can provide insight into potential biases. Check for omitted information. Pay attention to questions.

I'm seeing this a lot lately. People are being asked loaded questions. People are being asked loaded questions. Leading questions. You know what a leading question is? You're trying to get a person to say, to give a certain response. Leading. You don't do leading. Okay. If it, if it was a court of law, somebody would raise an objection and that would be sustained.

Leading questions are no bueno. If you see a poll, a political poll with someone's 56 percent of Americans say that they don't want 34 percent of poll results can be presented in biased ways, in fact they are, they are! They are, doesn't matter where they come from. Poll [00:56:00] results are presented in biased ways.

Check the sample size, the wording of the questions, and who conducted the poll for the love of God. Check who conducted the poll. Reliable polls are transparent about their methodology. Reliable polls are transparent about their methodology. Then, acknowledge your own personal bias. Recognize your own bias and how it might affect your perception of the news.

Being aware of your predispositions can help you critically assess information. And then you can ask critical questions when consuming news. Ask yourself, What is the evidence for the claim that this news story or news person is making? Are there alternative explanations or viewpoints? Who benefits from this narrative?

That is so important. Who benefits from this [00:57:00] narrative? What are the potential biases of the author or outlet? And engage in diverse conversations. Get off of the internet and go out and talk to people! I spend a lot of time talking to people. I talk to anybody, anybody. I like to shy away from politics. I really like to listen to what people are saying.

I don't ask questions. I like to listen. A lot of people saying a lot of offensive shit, but I like to listen to what people are saying. I like to Eavesdrop when I'm at the grocery store. You know, I'm just walking up and down the aisles. I'm just shopping. I'm not like, it's not like I'm picking up the phone while they're talking and listening to their phone.

No. Just listen to what people are talking about, what people are saying. Have conversations with friends and family, with your neighbors. Talk to your neighbors. People in your same [00:58:00] community. What are they thinking? What are they afraid of? What do they want to see in the future? What hopes and dreams do they have?

We can mitigate implicit bias. We can mitigate it by encouraging each other to consume news critically from diverse sources. sources to get a balanced view. Implicit bias during election season is shaping the political landscape in subtle yet significant ways. And it is killing, killing our brains from media portrayal to voter behavior.

These unconscious biases influence how candidates are perceived and how elections are decided, unfortunately. By becoming aware of these biases and actively working to counteract them, we can strive for a more fair and informed electoral process. So [00:59:00] next time you're reading a headline or watching a debate or deciding who to vote for, Remember to question your assumptions and seek a broader perspective, because a well informed vote is as satisfying as finding the perfect analogy for your argument.

And recognizing bias in political coverage requires a proactive and critical approach to consuming news by diversifying your sources. Analyzing your language and your tone, checking the credibility of sources, and engaging in thoughtful discussions, you can become more informed. You can become a more informed and discerning voter.

Stay informed, stay sane, and if all else fails, a good meme can be your mental lifeline. And this has been Ayanna Explains It All brought to you by Facts, Figures, Analysis, [01:00:00] and Enlightenment.

Take care.