FOOD FOR THOUGHT ON WRITING--AND READING--WITHOUT BIAS

Jeffrey Burton Russell, Paradise Mislaid: How We Lost Heaven--and How We Can Regain It (Oxford & New York: Oxford U. Press, 2006) ("No one can be entirely 'objective,' and writers claiming to have no point of view are either deluding themselves or concealing their bias in order to manipulate the reader. Authors should write with a mind entirely open to modifying their points of view in the light of evidence. The gap is wide between point of view and bias: the former is inevitable, whereas the latter point of view made illegitimate by insisting on prejudices and refusing to face evidence. Writers, therefore, should be transparently honest about their views." Id. at 1. Likewise, no reader can be entirely 'objective.' And, like writers, readers should read in a manner "open to modifying their point of view in the light of evidence." That is, for most of us, a constant struggle.).