My daughter has been into Winnie the Pooh lately. In one episode, Pooh and Eeyore are talking with Owl about finding Eeyore’s tail. The conversation more or less boils down to this: Owl suggests that they “Issue a reward.”

Pooh, interrupting, says, “Excuse me, Owl, are you feeling well?”
“Yes, why?” Owl asked.
“You sneezed,” replied Pooh.
“No I didn’t,” replied Owl, “I said we should ‘issue a reward.’”
“You sneezed again,” replied Pooh, “Are you coming down with something?”
“What?” Owl replied, “You can’t sneeze without knowing it. The word is not ‘Achoo’ it’s ‘Issue’. ‘Achoo’ isn’t even a word, it’s more of a sneezing sound.” While a humorous exchange, Owl makes a good point: you can’t sneeze without knowing it.

I recently listened to a podcast debate between Charlie Kirk and Dr. Rashad Richey. It is a good debate and presents ideas from the left and right as clearly and cohesively as I have heard them. At one point during the debate, Dr. Richey references a term known as, “implicit bias.” Implicit bias basically means that there are things a person or organization can do that are biased, but the person or organization is not aware they are biased. It often means being biased subconsciously and is used to propagate the idea that people and institutions are racist. Implicit bias, while explained as rational, is either nonsense or silly.

“To have bias, you have to know of something and believe something about it.”

Bias requires the following elements be present: 1) An ability to distinguish between one thing and another. 2) to make a judgement or apply value between the two things. In other words, to have bias, you have to know of something and believe something about it.

Bias is like sneezing. You can instigate a sneeze by stimulating follicles in your nose by sniffing something like, black pepper, dust or pollen. It is also possible swallow or stuff a sneeze, especially if you feel one coming on. But, as a wise Owl once said, “You can’t sneeze without knowing it.” You cannot have a bias without first having knowledge of two things and distinguishing value between the two. Implicit bias suggests that a person lacks knowledge and acts out of subconsciousness. That is nonsense. And when someone tells me, “God bless you. You implicitly sneezed,” I will be certain the world is lost.

However, assume it is a true thing. A person or entity can unknowingly commit heinous bias against other people. Is implicit bias bad? It appears to be so, mostly because it has only been applied to racism, but if it is real and tangible, it should be able to be applied to other things.

I have food allergies, specifically to nuts and peanuts. I have gone to the homes of friends were dessert is offered. I love dessert, but if it looks like there are walnuts in the brownies, I do not eat them. When I re-visit these friends homes, I tend not to want to eat dessert there because they have a tendency to use ingredients I cannot eat. My implicit bias would be not eating dessert because I do not know what they were made with. This seems a prudent use of implicit bias, especially if I could not seek accommodation.

However, since I have food allergies, there are restaurants I cannot eat at, such as Logan’s or Texas Roadhouse. They have implicit bias toward me because the way their food is prepared and the way their dining areas are kept. Ought I rally the entirety of people with peanut allergies and bring down these evil institutions? Ought we push for a systemic change for how food is prepared across the restaurant business? Ought I rage and burn and pillage these places in the name of equity of restaurants? Is this not petty?

Arguing from implicit bias toward racism always seeks to explain disparities between race, whether economic, incarceration rates, policing and others. Yet, my argument against the peanut industry is more legitimate because I cannot choose to avoid or alter the severity of my adverse reaction to peanuts, but most people can choose to work hard, live decently and not commit crime. Implicit bias is not grounded in reality. You cannot sneeze without knowing it, but even if you could, it would be the silliest thing.