Understanding “projection,” not as a psychological defense mechanism where by we imagine others to be as we are, and see in them characteristics that are actually true of us, but as a tendency we have to project our bias regarding an entire class of people as being true of those people. Racism is a white person’s projection of personal expectations and beliefs upon people of color.
We tend to see things the way we think things are (Or, we think things are the way we see things). And we cannot stand apart from our assumptions, presumptions, inferences, beliefs, convictions, prejudices, etc., in order to see our seeing and know that we are imposing our slanted view of the world upon the world. We are victims of our own false assumptions as much as the people we project our views upon are.
Scientists have long recognized the tendency of people conducting experiments with microscopes in laboratories to discover results they expect to find in the experiments they run. We do the same thing with our lives, seeing what we expect to find wherever we look and confirming thereby what we already assume to be so, everywhere we look.
We are trapped in our own views of the world and cannot get outside of ourselves to see. Liberals see the way liberals see. Conservatives see the way conservatives see. And we are the blind condemning the blind unable to look objectively at any aspect of reality because every “fact” we look at has to be interpreted subjectively!
So what are we to do? Do not rush to judgement as the first rule. Acknowledge our tendency to see as we always have seen and never see anything new or different about the people, and/or, the things we see–and catch ourselves in the act of “being ourselves again” whenever we say things we always say about other people and other classes of people.
We have to become unceasing observers of ourselves in action, keeping in mind Rumi’s observation, “If you are not here with us in good faith, you are doing terrible damage.”
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 