We’re no longer in a high-trust society
May 31, 2016, 7:42 PM
Katie Couric has received criticism over a documentary she made about guns in America. (AP)
(AP)
It saddens me when I meet a government employee and they apologize for working in the government. Don’t do that. If you’re doing your job and you’re doing it well, it’s honorable work.
In the past we were a very high trust society. But if you stop trusting the people that are running the country to follow the rules, you will have more and more citizens saying, “Screw it. They’re not following the law; I’m not following the law.”
And in our previous high trust society, there were standards of behavior for journalists as well. But now, no one trusts journalists either.
Katie Couric has been caught in a lie in a gun documentary she recently made. It involves a “misleading” pause. And it is “blowing up” in right leaning media.
In a high trust society, Couric would never get to make another documentary with wide spread distribution again. She was propagandizing. In a high trust society, she would no longer be called a journalist.
And what would happen if you legitimately falsified evidence at your place of work? Do you think you would still have a job if you lied to your bosses?
We have to rebuild trust. We have to get back to being a high trust society. If we don’t, you can look forward to having a lot more presidential elections where the candidates are deeply disliked.
