Kindly Review

5Taste Is an Unconscious Bias

Queue up the existential crisis: have you ever questioned why you believe something is correct? The truth is that review and feedback are entirely subjective. What you perceive as accurate and true is a personal belief, uniquely yours and no one else's.

Feedback is applying your standards of quality to an idea. Even grammar, spelling, and sentence structure feel like they should have a measure of correctness. But these “truth keepers” change by editing standards, language, and region. For example, “y'all” is perfectly acceptable in the American South, whereas “dude” is perfectly acceptable in the West.

What I've experienced by interacting with so many people is that my perspective of “quality” is narrowed by my background, experiences, and skills. My version of truth and correction is colored by my experiences alone. They are unique.

I approach editing as a white, female, cis, middle‐aged, middle‐class, state‐school‐educated journalistic editor looking for effective and efficient communications with an air of casual approachability. I'm skilled at adapting that perspective to various brands and voices, but that is the core of my evaluation and of what I want ideas to look like. Unfortunately, my capacity to change that perspective is limited. Still, I can expand to include other values of quality and pursue other standards.

What can a reviewer do to expand and learn to value diverse and varied experiences and knowledge? The path is kindness and ...