WK 5 – We Need to Learn to Trust Again

“In authoritarian regimes, creating a broad cynicism about all sources of expertise—the press, academics, professionals—serves to make sure political power, not truth-seeking, is the ultimate arbiter of what’s true.” – Caulfield & Wineburg

Anxiety around news consumption seems to be getting worse. Not a single person I know seems to have a solid grasp on how to handle the stimulation of being online and the distance we feel in real life from events happening all over the world. People get murdered on screen in front of our very eyes, but the next thing we see is a fan edit; Then real-life hits at work or at school and all of it is real but none of it is. Burning out because the way you consume news is by watching people across the world get bombed isn’t productive. It may feel like you’re looking away if you choose not to see things in the most personal way possible – online – but that isn’t always true. There is benefit to learning who to trust, and who not to trust, but choosing to never believe anything anyone says only leads to feeling terrible, and…honestly… that’s about it.

“She doesn’t have enough knowledge to know what she isn’t being told.”- Caulfield & Wineburg

This isn’t all to say that we shouldn’t question the things we see, but it does mean acknowledging that some people know more or may have ways to access information that you simply don’t. Relying on reporters, researchers, doctors or anyone that has shown themselves to be credible and knowledgeable gives your brain space to do more. Seeing terrible news in an Instagram carousel doesn’t call your senator; Watching videos of people more angry than knowledgeable doesn’t walk the streets. Understanding where you can make real change while preserving your sanity is productive, being chronically online isn’t (always). We all saw the consequences of posting black squares in 2020. Nothing. Nothing happened except a few people were comforted by their inaction.

Learning to balance cynicism and realism is beyond difficult. There is no easy answer in a world that seems to constantly yearn for anger and inaction. The decisions I have made are not prescriptive. I don’t think that I have all the answers, but I do think that I have saved myself some extraneous heartache and created more concrete moves to enact the change I want to see. For myself, I have chosen a few news sources that are respected and have relatively good track records: NPR (Local and national), BBC and CBC (International so I am not so stuck in an American bubble), and AP and Reuters (Larger sources that often get information firsthand). I don’t look at or listen to each one every day, but I keep a relatively consistent rotation on board. For specific local information I follow a few grassroots organizations in my community that send newsletters so I don’t always have to check social media to find out what is going on, though the occasional scroll can be informational for those that don’t send newsletters. With caution, a few politically active people, including politicians, can be insightful, especially in a state that deprioritizes minority voices.

Not trusting anything is a path to paranoia, and that I do not recommend. Be knowledgeable, be smart, and pay attention, but don’t fall prey to the cycles that tell you to not ever trust the people that have spent their lives writing or researching. Nuance here tells you that you can read a news article and also look more into a claim. It also says that you can trust your doctor but go get that second opinion when you think that someone else might have a better answer. Trust does not mean lack of accountability, but it does mean that you don’t have the mental load that can come with trying to be a doctor, researcher, and reporter while also having a real life to live.