#1077 Trust Knot

One of the knottiest problems we have these days is, whom do you trust? The internet is littered with misinformation, crooks send you phishy emails about your bank accounts, everywhere you turn it seems more and more people are trying to misinform you.
So it’s no surprise a lot of America trusts its comedians and artists more than anyone else. A recent poll indicated that America’s most trusted newscaster is Jon Stewart—an admitted promulgator of a fake newscast.
44% of those polled considered him “most trusted.” The next figures were Brian Williams at 29%, Charles Gibson at 19% and Katie Couric at 7%.
Wow, only 7% for a woman who once let us watch her colonoscopy. So much for revealing your inner self.
I pick up some of my most trusted information from detective novels—from authors framing their fiction in real contexts. Like I learned the other day that ironworkers, the epitome of blue-collar America, use the term “Joe” to describe a newbie, a novice, or a complete idiot. I wonder what ironworkers thought of Joe the Plumber.
Some stuff you almost expect. Recently there was a lobbying flap in Washington. Lobbying firms have always been fast and furious with skewing the facts, but this reached a new low. Seems Bonner and Associates, whose clients include a number of coal companies, sent letters to lawmakers. But they were forged letters, supposedly from the NAACP and a Latino lobbying group. The fake letters asked the lawmakers to oppose climate change legislation to, quote, “protect minorities.”
Funny, you wouldn’t expect the coal companies to oppose climate legalization, anymore than you’d expect the insurance companies to oppose health care reform.
What could possibly be in it for them?
A worse indication of the lying roads we’re traveling is the New Brunswick newspaper whose editors inserted a rumor that an Evangelical Prime Minister palmed a communion wafer rather than eating it at a Catholic state funeral.
The editor and publisher have been fired. But it’s interesting that they lied that the prime minister was deceptive.
That’s the most insidious knot of truth to untangle—when the other person lies by accusing you of lying.
America, ya gotta love it.