Common Sense: Previously Trusted Institutions Need to Earn Back That Trust

There is a reason so many of our institutions—the media, academia, the world of entertainment, even the government—have suffered a massive loss in public confidence.  In a visible fashion, they have repeatedly and deliberately substituted their desired narrative for what people can see with their own eyes.  When what the public suspected in the first place is confirmed, it is more than a black eye on the reputations of these institutions.  The lasting damage is their credibility with the public is fundamentally undermined.   

At NPR, its reporters and editors broke their arms patting themselves on the backs for not covering the Hunter Biden computer story. The basis for the decision?  To do so might have helped Donald Trump’s campaign.  Turning your back on an important story for naked political reasons may not be the best strategy to gain public trust.  

Raise your hand if you have seen or heard anything from the legacy linear media concerning more than 300 Christians recently murdered in Syria.  Can you imagine the level of coverage if five Muslims had been murdered for their religion in a “Christian” country?   Not a lot of “Democracy Dies in the Darkness” here.  Who can forget “he just had a bad night” description of Joe Biden’s debate performance?  Small wonder the mainstream media loses audience every month. Their over-the-top pronouncements on topic after topic produce eye rolls from millions.

In academia, while their leaders scream academic freedom from the rooftops, students are clearly too often being taught what to think rather than how to think critically.  Students are sanctioned for not adhering to rigid and dogmatic doctrine. Whether the subject is sexuality, the founding of our nation, the history of Western civilization, or anything else you can name, all students are supposed to bow to the progressive view of things.  When most citizens hear the assertion that mathematics is racist, their reaction is: “Are you nuts?”

The world of entertainment is slightly different in its relationship of fact to narrative.  They personify smugly and self-righteously letting us mere mortals know the correct things to think, and how we need to behave.  When many see programming that makes it appear every person in our country is someone who is not white and/or heterosexual, they mostly are bewildered.  The Academy Awards people have a minimum participation level for underrepresented communities to even be considered for an Oscar.  Nobody is arguing that anyone or any group should automatically be portrayed in a positive or negative light. They just would appreciate seeing life portrayed in a manner that has some connection to their life experiences, regardless of what demography they represent.

When government turns the corner from facts to narrative, you get the Deep State.  You get a politicized judicial system as witnessed by the torturing of fact, logic, and reason, not to mention the law, in order to diminish the standing of the candidate they opposed, Donald Trump.  You have the Justice Department slow walking potential prosecutions against Hunter Bides until after the statute of limitation expires.  All the while, the media shouts “there is no proof” of the judicial system being weaponized.

In its final days, the Biden Administration challenged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to get billions out the door before Trump took office.  One Biden appointee said: “It truly feels like we are on the Titanic, and we’re throwing, like, gold bars off the Titanic.  So much for being careful stewards of taxpayer money.  

Nobody enjoys seeing someone lose their job.  However, when federal employees removed from their positions behave as though it is unreasonable to ask them to deal with the same worries and concerns as everyone else, they reinforce the view they are out of touch.  Too often, government has proven itself unworthy of being trusted.  

When our “experts” are from the scientific community, to ignore or belittle facts in favor of political dogma causes huge problems for society as a whole.   If the topic is scientific in nature—dealing with a pandemic, gender affirming care, or climate change—we expect what we are hearing to be true and accurate.  Yet, the very people who should be encouraging free and open debate are the ones working overtime to silence anyone who deviates from their view of things.  They replace data with a partisan, political agenda.  Toss in doing all of this under the umbrella of government for what they are doing, and it all just gets worse.  This is supposed to be science!  

The Boston Globe just reported a study by two self-described liberal Princeton professors titled “In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us.”  Whether it was the lockdown, social distancing, masks, the long and short of it is contained in the study’s title.  By prioritizing keeping the public in line over using actual science, the “experts” did surely intentionally mislead us.  They ignored or dismissed contrary data and alternative conclusions.  Looking at you Dr. Fauci.  The cost of all of this behavior is real.   Predictably the opinions of our “experts” the next time we have a crisis will have to address dealing with a justifiably skeptical public. 

Common sense says that you cannot repeatedly substitute what you want to be true for what is actually true.  All of these institutions need to fumigate their workplace and at least take a stab at being honest with themselves and all the rest of us.