Confirmation bias

Confirmation bias is a funny thing. Generally speaking, all of us, regardless of our views, suffer from it. We often times find what we are looking for because it affirms our already held beliefs. This happens all the time, but it's most prominent in religion and politics. We'll seek out the "answers" that we wanted to find. It happens as well in scholarship. Catholics find a Shakespeare who is sympathetic to Catholicism. Atheists find a Shakespeare who was sympathetic to atheists.  Protestants find a Shakespeare who...well, you get the picture.

Why don't people like to challenge their already held beliefs? Simple, because we don't want to admit we might be wrong about this or that. After all, nothing is more difficult than admitting that some of our deeply held beliefs might be wrong.

To combat confirmation bias all of us should question ourselves and continually look at sources that we don't agree with. If for no other reason it'll strengthen our beliefs and we'll come out stronger. Nothing is worse than someone who only reads what they already agree with all the time.