The Western world exerts tremendous energy and spends huge amounts of money on political elections. It seems like the campaigning never stops. Since money is “the mother’s milk of politics,” there are endless fundraising events bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars or euros or pounds, or whatever is the national currency. All forms of media are used to promote the bid for office—and the power that goes with it. Inordinate sums of money are spent to win elections to offices that may have relatively modest pay.

These three words—prejudice, partiality, and partisanship—are related terms that describe a biased and negative mindset and approach towards another person. The usual result is intolerance of and hostility towards that person.

In this context, prejudice is a strong dislike of someone solely based on preconceived notions or assumptions about race, ethnicity, age, sex, religion, or other categories. It can also be a strong preference, favoritism, or showing partiality for someone. Partisanship is one-sided sectarianism or factionalism.

According to interview data recently released by the PEW Research Center, the percentage of Americans labeling themselves as “Christian” has fallen significantly in the last ten years (October 17, 2019). In addition, significantly fewer attend church services regularly.

On October 14, thirteen state police officers in Mexico’s western state of Michoacán were ambushed and massacred by a fast-growing local drug cartel (The Guardian, November 5, 2019). The police were outnumbered, outgunned, and wore subpar protective gear.

Many are aware that reading to young children helps their brains develop. A host of recent research studies have further highlighted the positive impact that conversation with young children has on their learning and brain development (BBC, October 1, 2019). It is not enough for children just to hear conversation occurring around them, and it is not the number of words they hear that matters most.