Trust

 

When we take a drink of water, we trust that the water service people are doing their job so we won’t get sick. When we push the button on an elevator, we trust that it has been well maintained so we won’t go crashing to the ground. When we call 911, we trust that the dispatchers and emergency responders will do their job and help is on the way. Some of these things we don’t even think about, we just unconsciously trust. We don’t ask if the air traffic controller is a Republican or a Democrat, a Buddhist or a Muslem, white or black. We don’t think about it. We just trust them to do their job. Without trust, there is no society, there is no civilization. We would all be huddled in our caves guarding what we have with clubs.

But trust seems to be in some danger. For the past few years, the tides have been not so gently eroding away the bank of trust.

Trust used to be harder to break. Before the internet, before social media, if you wanted to break down trust in an institution or a person, you had to rely on radio and television, or before that, pamphlets and public speeches. It was difficult, but by no means impossible. Hitler did it. Various schisms in various religions relied on information or disinformation campaigns that sometimes succeeded. Many wars were started by getting people to believe that the “others” could not be trusted.

But nowadays the breaking of trust is as easy as posting your next tweet. You can invent any wild conspiracy theory you want. For example, you could state that people who wear brown shoes . . . no, I am not going to invent a crazy image, because someone would believe it and start posting it and I don’t want the blood of brown-shoed people on my hands.

There is misinformation and there is disinformation. If someone is spreading misinformation, they are simply spreading information that is wrong, that they are mistaken about. Disinformation is knowingly spreading false information. It is propaganda. Disinformation is evil.

Trust works both ways. It is the responsibility of the person posting it who knows that it is disinformation and knows that it will cause harm, or perhaps they aren’t sure but they post it anyway. Posting spurious information is like giving aid to a terrorist. But it is also the responsibility of the viewer, or the listener. If you choose to believe crazy stuff you see online or on a podcast you are part of the problem. If you choose to share it, you are a bigger part of the problem.

Radio commentator Paul Harvey used to say “self-government cannot exist without self-discipline.” On this we agree.

Star Liner