Death of Trust
When I was 19, I was chosen to attend the Canadian Forces Aircrew Selection unit in Toronto. There was a confluence of factors that had led me to this point where I had decided to take the first big step towards fulfilling a life-long dream. I had been seriously thinking of being an astronaut since I was 10 and I saw qualifying as a military pilot as a path towards realizing that goal. I was athletic, fairly bright and in the Physics/Astronomy program at the University of Manitoba. I did well with the Air Force’s written tests and had the eye-hand coordination to adequately ‘fly’ the ancient flight simulator. I even passed the spinning chair test. My femurs weren’t too long (your knee caps would be sheared off during ejection from the old Tutors). I was passing with flying colours; that is until the medical technicians did an ultra sound of my heart. The head DCIEM doctor, a full colonel, came to examine me. He gave me a drug to put my heart into tachycardia and when it was going about 200 beats a minute, gave a listen. He diagnosed me with a mitral valve prolapse which excluded me from pilot training. The doctor explained to me that there was some US Air Force evidence that I might pass out earlier at higher G forces due to the condition. With the dashing of my dreams, this was the moment I began my mistrust of doctors. Irrational yes, the man was just doing his job with the information at hand, but to this day my blood pressure skyrockets (it’s called white coat syndrome) whenever a doctor or BP cuff comes near me.
This sense of betrayal is fueling a lot of anger in the world. There are few institutions, organizations or professions left that haven’t been ripped apart by scandal and hypocrisy. It is long past cliché that a politician will say anything to get elected and then summarily break those promises. One of the latest examples, was how Trudeau’s promise for electoral reform was cavalierly tossed to the curb. As usual, over-the-top outrage was heard from the NDP and Green parties (For Elizabeth May, it was one of the worst betrayals she has seen) but the average Canadian just went Meh and shrugged it off as de rigueur. Surprisingly, Trump is keeping his promises and is being pilloried by media, pundits and protestors. Vegas odds are 10/13 of Lady Gaga making a political statement reference the President at the Super Bowl tonight. Politicians from municipal to federal enact the policies that affect every portion of our lives and the normalized behavior is to ridicule them no matter their stripe.
It is difficult to not develop a siege mentality with constant attacks on all communication fronts. Who picks up a ringing telephone without trepidation that it’s a telemarketer or surveyor? Email and text message spam is rampant. My mother has thousands of emails in her inbox that she hasn’t gotten to because of all the spam she’s allowed to accumulate. How many emails/Facebook messages do you receive just from friends sending you the latest Grumpy Cat meme? Would you believe Dancing Baby came out in 1996? I get at least 5 or 6 Phishing attacks daily between my phone and Hotmail. Everyone is trying to rip you off or send you time wasters and more and more of your day is being eaten up. Remember when you actually listed your name and number in a phone book? If no one was home to answer the phone, people had to come over and knock on your door or send you a letter. It is too easy and too addictive to be at everyone’s beck and call.
No profession is safe from public distain. Every action from every formerly honoured institution is being questioned in the public forums of the Facebooks, Twitters, and media (alt left to alt right). Police put a 6 year old girl in cuffs and the mother is interviewed and calls it brutality and race related. Teachers are greedy for more money. Priests abuse altar boys. Scientists are in the pocket of whichever industry their study favours. Marie Henein defends Jian Ghomeshi and she’s called a traitor to women. Judges make politically incorrect statements and are tossed off the bench. The military is full of hair trigger PTSD cases and sexual predators. Football stars are cheating with deflated balls. So many individual, concerning incidents but proportionally a tiny amount of the whole. The good work of the vast majority of people and institutions is being ignored because of the world’s obsessive laser focus on negativity.
Humans seem to possess an irrational need for perfection and apply unrealistic standards to daily life. This constant compulsion fuels the anger and is used to substantiate their arguments. Activist groups use this anti-trust psychology to further their causes. The formula is to plant a small seed of doubt with their vague and usually unprovable statements and then enlist the support of a celebrity. Actors and actresses are literally paid to pretend to be someone they are not. It is their job. Yes, they can have an opinion on whatever cause they feel strongly about but why would anyone let alone millions, slavishly believe their views and ‘expertise’? Andrew Wakefield’s discredited paper on vaccine/autism linkage would have quickly been tossed into the dustbin of scientific literature if not for the efforts of Jenny McCarthy. Anti-fish farm groups use contamination factors of a few extra parts per million and Pamela Anderson to vilify the industry. Climate change activism has enlisted all of Hollywood to push their agenda. It has become the holy grail of causes. Who wouldn’t be concerned about Mother Earth? Plus the timeline for the fruition of their claims won’t happen in our lifetime but that of our children and grandchildren. Meanwhile, banning plastic bags is going to save the planet. Take an idea and who ever shouts the loudest wins, irrespective of reasoned debate. Anger bubbles when even the basic facts are questioned since there is no trust in the ‘experts’ weighing in.
Technology and the phenomenon of the 24hr news cycle fuels much of this negativity and mistrust. ‘If it bleeds, it leads’ is the mantra of media. One bad incident or slip-up will undo years of good work and effort. The media has made a blood sport out of waiting for celebrities and politicians to do something stupid so that the very people who put them up on a pedestal can then tear them down. I know the major networks are praying for Trump to be brought up on impeachment hearings. Imagine the ratings! CBC’s The National used to be only 30 minutes in length. I grew up with the local CKX TV news having a noon and 6 o’clock report. Mostly, we were listening to the grain and cattle prices as that was our business. Occasionally, there would be a newsworthy ‘bad’ story but to fill the time it was mostly local interest items. Skipping forward to now, all these local stations are closed and the larger outlets gather in the big ‘five’ stories of the day, running them ad nausea. Look hard enough over the entire world, there’s always something bad going on. Day after day, the message being pushed is the world is burning.
Making matters worse, alternative facts and fake news is rampant. In the race to avoid being scooped, breaking news flashes around the world with little corroboration or fact-checking. The mosque shooting in Quebec immediately led with multiple gun men shouting Allahu Akbar. In my experience with Search and Rescue, the first reports of an incident are straight up garbage. Ask a cop about the reliability of witness reports. It takes time to properly investigate an incident. Unfortunately, the cycle for reporting is measured in minutes and in this latest example another anti-Muslim, we can’t trust immigrants message went out erroneously. Even with a withdrawal story, the damage is done and just shows you can’t trust the media. Long gone is the time to fact check and put some sober second thought into a story. Sensationalized first reports lead. There’s no patience for due process as hunger for the next outrageous incident is voracious. There is no market for the little voices saying, we’re actually doing ok.
Maybe you are one of the many who have decided to shun the media because of all the negativity. Well, you have Facebook and Twitter to shout back and forth with. These mediums used to be used to let family and friends know what you’re up to. Now they are just mediums filled with politically charged memes slandering this or that group, organization, cause or person. Conspiracy theories abound and google for a few minutes and you will find some ‘evidence’ to back whatever your viewpoint is. I get exasperated when someone is particularly ignorant. An acquaintance engaged me over ‘Chem Trails’ over Vancouver Island and I couldn’t keep my mouth shut over her obstinacy. Island conspiracy groups were actually invited to come on to the Air Force Wing in Comox to physically check the aircraft for evidence of the military ‘cloud seeding’. I couldn’t believe that I had to explain to this otherwise intelligent lady the concept of exhaust.
Death of trust has come from a thousand cuts. Like me, I am sure everyone has had personal betrayals or disappointments and has trouble trusting again. But I have never been a fan of mass punishment due to the actions of a few bad apples or honest mistakes. If someone has truly wronged you or society then make a singular example and show the rest of the herd what happens when you cross the line. When the British Navy still practiced punishment with the lash, the worst cases would be taken to every ship in the fleet. Even if the miscreant was dead, the body would still receive the full measure of lashes. Broad-brushing just leads to general mistrust and bad feelings of injustice.
This shear accumulation and weight of mistrust will crumble our civilization. We need to stop taking life so seriously and worrying about so much. We need to disassociate ourselves from the negative information overload pushed on us daily from media, the internet and our cell phones. Shut everything off periodically. Believe me, you’re not going to miss anything and you’re not that important that the world will crumble without you. (Except for reading my blog, ha ha, then shut everything off) It’s easier for me as I grew up in a pre-smart phone/internet era and remember a time when I wasn’t constantly connected. Give people and organizations second, third, fourth and more chances. (Maybe not that Nigerian prince, he’s a bad dude.) Manage your expectations and accept that decisions won’t go your way for now or maybe forever. I did get a re-do at pilot training at the age of 40 as my medical issue turned out to not be an issue any more. Our instant gratification society expects resolution in the span of a 30 minute Sit Com and has forgotten how to look at the long picture. Grow some plants or sketch stars in a note book and slow your life down a bit.
Start trusting people again, accept that there will be erroneous results and forgive the occasional missteps. On a warship or aircraft, every crew member acts as part of the larger team towards a common goal. At any time during an emergency or battle, one sailor or airman could be the difference that saves the rest. People screw up all the time due to inability, inattention, indifference or fatigue. As a MARS officer, our motto was to trust but verify. Humans aren’t inherently evil and given the chance and proper motivation will generally strive to do the right thing. Just be prepared to use some prudence.
If you can’t trust anyone, there leads to anger and anarchy.
Here’s a re-post of Chris Hadfield’s positive moments from 2016 to help give you some hope.
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.