<p>What is bias? Student Sheet</p><p>A Heroic Story A man on a motor bike is riding by the zoo when he sees a little girl leaning into the lion’s enclosure. Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the cuff of her jacket and tries to pull her inside to slaughter her, under the eyes of her screaming parents. The man jumps off his bike, runs to the cage, and hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch. Whimpering from the pain, the lion jumps back letting go of the girl, and the biker brings her to her terrified parents, who thank him endlessly. A newspaper reporter has seen the whole scene and, addressing the biker, says, “Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I ever saw a man do in my whole life.” “Why, it was nothing, really, the lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger, and acted as I felt right.” “Well, I’ll make sure this won’t go unnoticed. I’m a journalist, you know, and tomorrow’s paper will have this on the first page. By the way what football team do you support?” “I’m a ……… supporter”, he replied. The journalist (a ……….. supporter) leaves. The following morning the man buys the newspaper to see if it indeed brings news of his actions, and reads on the front page: FOOTBALL HOOLIGAN ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH Obviously this is a joke and is therefore very much exaggerated. However the journalist did ask for information that had nothing to do with the situation and it so happened to be something which ‘biased’ him against the other man. From the headline, we have to assume that this information influenced him when he wrote the article.</p><p>The Blind Men and the Elephant Six blind men were asked to describe an elephant by touching it. The first reached up and touched it’s side – “an elephant is like a wall” he stated. The second then approached it and grasped its tusk. “What have we here!” he cried, “It is a spear”. The third man then went up to the elephant and happened to hold onto its trunk. “Goodness!” he exclaimed, “An elephant is indeed a type of snake”. At this the fourth man went up and, reaching out his hand, grabbed hold of the elephant’s knee. “You are all talking nonsense” he declared, “an elephant is just like a tree as I have hold of the tree trunk!” The fifth then went forward and chanced to touch the elephant’s ear. “Good gracious” he said, “said; "Even the blindest man could tell that this elephant is just like a fan!” The sixth man then seized the elephant’s tail “You are all wrong he said, “the elephant is just like a rope!" They all then started arguing about who was right – each convinced it was them! </p>