The Earth Mother's Lesson

My sudden encounter with a snake on Eighty Acres brought me instant fear, for we have been taught that snakes are slithering slimy sinful serpents. Without a single shred of evidence or experience with snakes, we know all these things to be true. And because we believe only what we want to believe, we simply discount any contrary information about snakes as untrue. Is this being biased? I wonder if we do the same for people with different skin color, religion, nationality, or political party? Maybe the Earth Mother wanted to teach me a lesson today.