Trust

I trust my doctor. He studied his specialty and practiced it for years. He has learned more and expanded medical knowledge in his routine of healing patients. He can make judgments that matter given complex medical circumstances, patient by patient.


I trust my credit union executives. They have learned through study and service what financial transactions work and which don’t given each circumstance. They make judgments daily to fit the circumstances of individual members. They take risks with members when making loans. Members fulfil their obligations and loan terms mostly; some don’t; but that’s the cost of risk taking.


I trust scientists in their work toward fuller understanding of our universe and how it works. I know they do not know everything, that knowledge is always expanding through study, testing, and purposeful research. They know more about their area of expertise than I.


I trust academics, too. They study and research topics continually. They connect some topics with others and take note of cause/effect/results, if any. Their jobs produce more understanding of our world in the social sciences, history and arts. They know more than I do. They share what they know. We are fully able to connect with their work to the best of our understanding and curiosity.


I trust expertise. I trust logic. I trust facts.


I rely on the press to report on all of the above. Factually, logically, and with attention to details and expertise of those providing the information, the data. Making sense of all of this is a difficult task. It takes discipline, fact checking, editorial oversight, and hard work. It doesn’t always come out right; that’s when self-reporting corrections enters the picture. For the most part, the American Press does an excellent job. With proper resources it will continue to do an excellent job.


In recent years, though, financial stability of publishers in the institutional press, has faltered. Advertising revenues have sought other avenues to communicate with the public. Without ad revenue, the press is underfunded and may fall prey to pandering to their advertisers, their supporters. Might their opinions enter their press reporting? Not only is this possible, but a growing ideological reporting shift has taken place. For all to see. Fox Network comes to mind. Conservative versus liberal mindsets become part of the brand of specific networks and newspapers, and news magazines as well.


When the experts among us are misquoted, misreported, and churned through the opinion machine, what we read becomes unreliable.


Disinformation runs rife. So does dysfunction in our governing institutions.


How we repair this to a true standard of objectivity is a huge challenge. But we must try.


Similar challenges exist in controlling safe communication and transactions via technology so we can maintain our trust in voting, financial markets and medical care. Our lives depend on this.


Serious times require serious effort. Zealots and ideologues need not apply. But always we must discern who and what is true. No one said democracy was easy.

But it is worth our effort.


April 9, 2020