George Zimmerman Implicit Bias

Implicit bias is defined as attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These stereotypes are brought upon us by everyday interactions, ideas, and experiences shared with other people. Culpable ignorance is defined as the lack of knowledge or understanding that results from the omission of ordinary care to acquire such knowledge or understanding. While listening to other people you may feel as if they are telling the complete truth and that there is no other side of their story. The time that you decide to not look any further into their stereotypical thoughts is the moment you become a victim of implicit bias and also become culpably ignorant because you know that there may be something

In a perfect world people are always what they seem to be and one's own thoughts and beliefs are never to be questioned. Take police violence for example, when they see a suspect reach in their pocket, the police immediately reach for their gun and may even shoot, depending on how strong they feel the threat is because their life may be in danger. People will argue and say that the police are right and that there was no fault in their reasoning. However those people are wrong because the man could have been innocent. Take Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman for instance, the ruling of the trial came out in favor of George Zimmerman because people believed that police are righteous while African Americans are inferior and no questions can be made about their reasoning. My belief that implicit bias is a form of culpable ignorance still stands with this example plainly because the police chose to be ignorant to the fact that the young African male could be innocent and in this case was

Out of nowhere one of the kids say “blue is only for boys, girls should only use pink!” without question girls stop using blue and pick up the pink. The intention of the person that made that statement was never malicious, they were innocent remarks five year olds make. Kids however have to have learned these things somewhere and that is where the parents’ bias comes in. The parents are culpable of this bias but may not want to believe it to be their fault.

People that believe implicit bias is not a form of culpable ignorance may be mistaking the purpose of it and thinking it is simply people calling them out on their own thinking. When in reality the purpose of culpable ignorance is for one to realize a fault in one’s own thinking. No matter what people believe to be true, biases are brought upon us as early as we can remember and there is no escaping them. Being ignorant to the stereotypes you form is almost identical to believing your own