It’s a theme popularized on “The X-Files,” a TV show that portrayed a government conspiracy to conceal the existence of extraterrestrial visitors: Trust no one.
It certainly seems to have caught on. Trust is in notably short supply these days.
Results of a Gallup survey of confidence in institutions from 2024 found that only three had the trust of the majority: small business (68%), the military (61%) and the police (51%).
On the short side of the scale came the Supreme Court (30%), public schools (29%), the presidency (26%), newspapers (18%) and Congress, bottom of the list at 9%. Churches and organized religion – the God lobby – managed only 32%.
Some of that is understandable. As the estimable X-Files Special Agent Dana Scully observed: “The truth is out there. But so are lies.”
And now this news: Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads, recently announced the company would no longer concern itself with third-party fact-checking. Instead, it will rely on the kind of community policing now used by X, noted purveyor of entirely reliable facts. Ahem.
“A program intended to inform too often became a tool to censor,” Zuckerberg said of Meta’s previous efforts to monitor content.
Forgive me if I distrust his explanation, his motive and the likelihood that the new approach will be effective. (And what’s with that haircut?) I don’t even believe Zuckerberg thinks it will work. But it will find favor among those who peddle baloney – or worse – online.
I subscribe to a fact-checking service that delivers a daily email collection of claims making the rounds. Some are by politicians, some are by well-known conspiracy kooks like Alex Jones and some are identified only as from social media.
Occasionally, an assertion will be found as true. For example, this one: “Some convicted felons from the Jan. 6 insurrection can still vote.”
The reason: Unlike Tennessee, not all states disenfranchise felons.
Some claims have a hint of truth but are misleading, like this one: “Trump ‘faces up to four years in prison’ at Jan. 10 sentencing.” While the hush-money cover-up charges he was convicted of do carry that potential penalty, even the judge involved in the case said he would not impose it. And he didn’t.
And then there are the blatant lies, like this: “Bird flu vaccine contains dog DNA and other ingredients that are toxic or carcinogenic.” There is no evidence the ingredients of the vaccine – which isn’t yet available – are toxic or that they cause cancer.
As someone who spent a career doing combat against mistruths and inaccuracies, I welcome a certain amount of skepticism for any claim. “Trust, but verify,” as Ronald Reagan proclaimed in regards to nuclear treaty negotiations with the Russians. (It’s actually an old Russian proverb, and more than a bit curious, coming from a man whose notion of reality sometimes confused it with old movie roles.)
I think the real problem, though, is not a lack of trust, but too much trust in the wrong sources. The internet has made available troves of “information” from “experts” whose primary qualification is the ability to invent the “facts” they need to support their conclusions. They can add 2 and 2 and make the answer 5 because math is just an outdated concept developed by elites.
Politicians, meanwhile, employ the kind of rhetorical hocus-pocus that turns a violent attack on Congress into a “day of love.” And the voting public, or too much of it, buys it.
“The government you elect is the government you deserve,” Thomas Jefferson is reported to have said, a statement that lays the blame for our situation now where it rightfully belongs: with the collective “us.”
Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, a plurality of voters who basically do not trust government then proceed to elect a government that cannot be trusted.
I’m beginning to think Jack Nicholson’s character in “A Few Good Men” hit the nail on the head: We can’t handle the truth.
Joe Rogers is a former writer for The Tennessean and editor for The New York Times. He is retired and living in Nashville.