Weekly Blogpost #23

Wednesday, February 19th, 2014

To what extent can an individual have impartial judgement?

Dear Mr Koss,

I tried formulating a KQ this time for my weekly blogpost. I do not know if it fits the characteristics of one, that it is open-ended and general enough, but anyway. I will not stray away from my main point.

The reason that I came up with this question was following the questionings of people I know and reading several articles on the Sochi female individual figure skating competition for the Winter Olympic Games of 2014. Many people asked me my thoughts on the participation of Korean skater Kim Yuna, twice gold medal winner and aiming to win the gold medal three times back-to-back. On one hand, "Do I think that she will win? What are my expectations? Do I believe she has a chance?" On the other hand, "Do you think that that fact the Olympics are in Sochi, Russia, this year will influence the judges' scores? Do you think that Kim Yuna will be affected in some way or another?". And all those kinds of questions.

Looking at the results for the short program, Kim Yuna placed first with waves of supportive and positive comments, praises, from judges and audience all around the globe. Yet what I see is Adela Sotnikova as the runner-up, the second position, right behind the Korean "Ice Princess." 

I would like to believe that the judges will be impartial tomorrow, that Kim Yuna will perform and be judged under impartial eyes that are not prejudiced. But, deep inside, I feel that this won't be happening. I do not like to accuse, especially without any evidence, but I do not trust the Russians and the judges fair judgements. It is possible that I am wrong, but I cannot help but have a weird premonition. 

I say all this, but even then, I admit that my opinions are biased. After all, I am Korean. But more than anything, more than because of the desire to see another gold medal join my country of nationality's flag, I wish that Kim Yuna will win first place for her own sake. I wish that she performs her best, that she reaches the zenith of her career, as this will become her last performance at the Olympic games. She has talent, determination, perseverence, and I hope that this will overcome anything that may happen and grant her an impartial judgement that does not lead to doubts on integrity.

As a side note, my KQ was formulated by my wonders of whether it is ever possible to be completely and entirely free of bias. As humans, we have our thoughts and opinions on everything. Our reason allows us to use the information that we have, and this influences all else that we do. I wonder whether it is possible to be completely fair, amid all our backgrounds, overcoming the webs of information and consequent biases.