Who Do You Trust, Baby?
If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts. — Albert Einstein
Most of us would probably agree that old Al was a fairly bright dude. And I think we know what he meant by this little jewel, especially in his fields of scientific and mathematical pursuits. After all, in addition to being one of the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, he was also known to have a very wry sense of humor. I seriously doubt he had in mind, or would approve of, the rewriting and spinning of facts and history as they unfold, a la Big Brother style.
Big corporations do it, as in Microsoft calling software bugs, features. Big government does it by telling us that the disaster in Iraq is going well and making progress. Politicians do it by saying whatever their people think the audience wants to hear, all sounding alike, and all telling convenient lies. And big media does it by spinning almost everything to their own purposes of advertising dollars, profits and their almighty god, share.
We as a people, as a culture, have such tremendous capability, such enormous opportunity. It is shameful that the zeitgeist of our time is written in lies, rewriting of history, spinning of facts, cheating, greed, and the most powerful nation ever to emerge on the planet being drained and sucked into bankruptcy and oblivion by an unwinnable guerrilla war against an unseen enemy in a godforsaken country halfway around the globe.
Meanwhile, the great beast of China quietly moves in and takes us over, just as we are being infested at a phenomenal rate by a seemingly unstoppable flow of millions of illegal aliens from south of the border. Some of you will object to these words. Check the labels on everything you purchased in the past month. Check the lines at the employment office, driver license station, Medicare/Medicaid office, or any human/family service agency. [Thanks! I needed that. Rant over...]
I do not like myself at my skeptical worst. I do not like the fact that I have let myself become that way. I do not like that I have little choice but to question everything, trust no one. It has always been my nature to accept everyone openly at face value, to trust them implicitly until given reason not to. That has always worked for me, other than with a couple of lowlife bottom feeders that had such a good act that it took me longer than normal to wake up. That trait so deeply colors who I am that I continue to trust individuals until they show different stripes. Having said that, I also admit that I do so through a more critical eye than in the past. It takes less to move me from trust to don’t trust than in the past.
Organizations, whether business, government, non-profit, religious, or other, have collectively lost my trust, at least until they prove trustworthy, and even then it is day-to-day. In the end, it all comes down to individuals. Individual trust is at the core of all relationships.
It would seem that we have come far afield from Einstein’s thought that kicked off this post. Or have we? Perhaps we’ve just come full circle. Some things to think about in the private echo chamber of your mind: Who do you trust? Do you trust more or less than in the past? How accepting are you when introduced to someone new? Do you approach the trusting of individuals differently than you do organizations? Is your overall trust level, especially as it applies to organizations, different than it was years ago? If so, why? If your trust level has shifted, are you at ease with that?
10 Comments so far
[... by Winston ...]
Seems we can trust you to spell Xenophobia
No, Stu, not xenophobia. Just a growing weariness of paying for the millions of illegal immigrants running around our country with no responsibilities, no accountabilities, no legal identification, no intent of becoming citizens, no taxes paid by the ones that work, no visible means of support in many cases. Mexico has rid itself of many of their worst criminals by chasing them across the border to be welcomed by the stupid gringos. Would you and your country tolerate that? I think not, not for very long.
Since our founding, America has welcomed all who wanted to come here and be a part of the “melting pot”. We still do. In the past, there were entry requirements, such as identifying yourself and having some reason for being here. Those who wished to stay were also welcomed as they became tax-paying citizens. Perhaps you cannot comprehend the situation today since it is far different from the past. It is a very difficult and ugly problem that is reaching critical levels in some areas. For all of this we can thank Fuhrer Bush.
Skeptical? Yeah, I’m with you. I don’t trust anything politicians/officials say, and even if I happen to agree with what they say, I don’t think they mean it and they almost certainly are not going to do anything about it. I think the 5 or 6 corporations which bring me the “news” are no more worthy of trust than the government. Business corporations are (basically, I guess, by law) interested in nothing but the bottom line.
One of my most frequent wry chuckles when I see TV ads where the corporation paying to post the message includes the language that they “care” about me, about people. Corporations are incapable of emotion. Corporate apparatchiks have abdicated their emotions.
Nothing you wrote struck me as xenophobic.
Later.
I believe we tend to trust individuals on a case by case basis, but have learned in our recent past (by that I mean our own personal histories at a certain age) that we cannot trust institutions, organizations, governments and corporations.
I am certain that in the history of our nation these same concerns with politicians and other leaders have been acknowledged, and even corrected. We just continue to begin our lives innocent, naive, and trusting; then we get a bit of experience with the world and become who we are at a later age.
I have always liked to think of myself as “tolerant”, but know that I am much more cynical, cautious and sceptical than I used to be. Age or wisdom?
How many countries would not mind if their borders were useless and people could enter at will, work, take benefits and sometimes commit crimes with no accountability? Try living in Arizona or any border states right now. It’s not a question of bigotry it’s a question of looking at the situation and trying to figure out how to have borders with meaning– and frankly we need that in our life as well as our country.
I am careful who I trust because you can see obviously in life that a lot of people are not worthy of trust. I have been disappointed a few times but in general once I do trust, I have not had reason to regret it– but I don’t give my trust immediately.
I agree I do not think it is xenophobia at this point. When I was a kid we had plenty of Mexicans around, but it was not a problem. Almost all of them were doing everything they could to become Americans. They wanted to assimilate.
Now if you talk to my kids or their friends, there is some animosity towards Mexicans in general. For one there are so many of them that they are taking over. The other thing is they have no intention of assimilating. They want to make our country fit them. So in that regard they are like invaders. Don’t get me wrong, we are a nation of immigrants and I like everyone who has a job. But it is out of hand with the criminals and gangs and welfare recipients.
I do have to disagree that while he has done little to stop the flow of illegals you cannot blame the entire mess on W. We were getting plenty of border crossers before he was president. There was another president before him that signed NAFTA. And the Congress has tried to block many of the things this administration has pushed for to close off the borders.
Trust no one.
I don’t expect politicians to tell me the truth.
I don’t believe the blurb that is put out by companies.
I persist in expecting the best in individuals and then am surprised when I am let down.
Gosh, I hadn’t realised I was so cynical!
You’re asking the wrong person here. In the past decade my trust level of organizations and institutions has plummeted to absolute zero. My trust level of most humanoids is slightly higher. You can only kick me so many times before I decide that it feels better to isolate myself. I don’t think the coming election is going to cure my malaise. You gotta know something’s wrong when that you-know-what Anne Coulter says if that idiot McCain is nominated (what scares me is I agree with her on that), she’s going to campaign for Hillary. All that tells me is that again we’ll be deciding between Tweedledum and Tweedledumber — again.