"Trust starts and ends with truth..."

Honestly exploring what trust is more deeply.

Trust is an essential foundational building block we rely heavily upon every day in social living and every relationship.  Considering closely the definitions below, we come to realize that putting our trust in someone or something requires a series of parameters to be met.   We must, then, have and maintain firm expectations and boundaries around these essential parameters to protect the integrity of the vital function of trust in human experience, shared knowledge and meaning.

Miriam Webster defines TRUST as…

 assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something   

Cambridge dictionary defines Trust as…

to believe that someone is good and honest and will not harm you, or that something is safe and reliable

Let’s explore some of the formidable elements that must be present in relationships or people we choose to place trust in, given that we find ourselves in a highly contentious global event with many nefarious characters and more ‘misinformation’ than ever.  Before placing trust in a stranger, including our leaders, organizations, administrators, and agencies, we are responsible for determining the trustworthiness of the person, the information being presented, and the associated actions and behaviours.

Honesty, Integrity, and Honour

Truth and transparency are required elements that must be evidenced before trusting anyone or any information. As an example, it is well known and documented, that the vast majority of politicians are intentionally deceitful and manipulative actors. Placing blind trust in them and their policies has proven to be very harmful in our current Covid era. World leaders told many many lies, including the nature of the spread of covid (it is airborn, not droplets), its origins, whether it was transmissible to amongst humans, masks and lockdowns have proven to be of little benefit but result in massive human suffering and societal harms. Aditionally, from our very own PM Mr. Trudeau as he claimed multiple occasions, “the only way out of the pandemic is with vaccines”. Absolute statements, and flip flopping behaviours raise major red flags. Being honest, even when it is impossibly difficult, is what defines both integrity and honour. Our entire leadership involved in the covid response and policies do not deserve trust based on their actions and behaviours over the past few years.

Trust is earned when actions meet words ~ unknown

False Fronts

Qualities, such as fairness, approachability, reliability, and competence are some of the other traits we check off in our minds when assessing someone’s trustworthiness. But, how well do we ever get to know our bosses, or leaders, politicians, doctors, or CEOs, etc.  We do not, in most cases, ever have the opportunity to scratch the surface of their authentic characters.  We see what they selectively allow to be publicly displayed.  Most of the time, we trust that others who placed these leaders in their positions trusted they were a qualified fit.  Yet, in a crisis like the one we find ourselves in, these top actors in every institution, who are collaborating with the government, are permanently altering our lives and reengineering our social fabric with little to no public discussion or debate.  Importantly, we need to dig a little, ok, a lot, deeper below the surface to find trait and behavioural integrity, consistency and congruency of those in charge.  How do we know if they have our best interests as a top priority?   It is naive to dismiss this question, we do not even know them. 

Throughout the pandemic, I have seen countless times average good people distrusting family members, friends, and colleagues in place of maintaining trust in the self serving officials and their narrative. Messaging around covid and all of the information presented to us publicly is malleable. And, they have manipulated it to perpetuate a pernicious story. We have learned that not all the covid deaths reported were actually FROM covid (Ontario Minister of Health). We have also heard officials like CDC and national government officials backtrack on the effectiveness of the vaccines and that they DO NOT in fact stop or reduce transmission of covid. The many catchphrases of the covid era have served only to as propaganda, to confuse and divide human relationships.

 Broken trust forces us, first, to acknowledge a painful reality, we may have chosen to ignore, then, to make some difficult decisions. Dr. Jane Greer

Has Ontario and Canadian top leadership been honest?  Have they shown the public transparency?  Have they taken any moment for pause and reflection to see what is working well, what isn’t and where they could have done things differently?  We all know, there is never only one way to solve a complex problem. Perhaps a different approach may work better.  Have they shown any interest in social clarity of covid data and information? Have these righteous leaders shown any signs of accountability?  If you find any moments where our leadership has consistently provided truthful data/studies, hospitalizations etc, efforts to correct and clarify information, or discuss/debate covid topics and policies, I would appreciate you sharing for further exploration.  However, over time, I have consistently noticed and documented the opposite of what is expected to gain public trust. 

Connecting the dots…

Our top political officials, the Ontario Science table, the officials of our public health institutions, regulatory bodies, employers, hospital administrators, educators, doctors, nurses, and even our own families and neighbours have all engaged in distrustful actions and abusive behaviours.  Such abuses include, but are not limited to, labelling and name calling, blaming, shaming, intimidation, threats, coercion, force, assumptions, censorship, dehumanization, appropriation, isolation, segregation, ostracization. Every relationship, including our social contract, can be abused.  Leadership today has fraudulently manufactured consent based on emotionally capturing public opinion through the use of paralyzing fear.  Subsequently, this has enabled their pernicious and ever expanding powers over every aspect of our lives.  Resulting egregious human rights violations, stigmatization, inhumane treatment of innocent people, and targeted persecution have become the operational standards for those in charge.  In consideration to the original problem of a virus, which can only cause some people bodily harm and death, abusive measures and responses are disproportionately harmful and devastating.  Trust has been broken at every level of society.  Our very social fabric has been violently slashed and is now frayed, potentially beyond repair.    

Where we place our trust is important, particularly now, in such a polarized world.  We must each be decisive and intentional with our trust as we have seen the dangers of blindly trusting people just because of their titles, power, or positions.  When our leadership is employing clearly abusive tactics whilst breaking a vast array of existing fundamental laws to rush forth new mandates, we must be appropriately aware and critical of their actions and behaviours.  Our leaders have used fear, manipulation, and massive costly marketing/media campaigns to reframe the way we think and treat one another.  During a crisis, how we treat others is a reflection of our deepest, truest values and traits as a society.  We do not have to engage in abusive treatment of human beings to be safe from a microscopic germ.  Evidently, we create and cause more harm and suffering when we allow such maltreatment of our fellow citizens.  In real crises and emergencies, people intrinsically collaborate and unite toward a common goal.  Division amongst a population during a crisis signals there are at least some elements that are intentionally manufactured and manipulated.  Current leadership at every level in almost every country and region have adopted and utilized strikingly similar tactics, measures and actions toward their own people.  This is not a natural occurrence and it is not a coincidence.  As responsible citizens who are concerned about the ‘greater good’, there is a far greater threat to humanity and our childrens’ future than the covid-19 virus.   

Trust is earned through honesty and integrity, and we find those in consistent, congruent, fair, and just statements, actions, and behaviours.  

As a thought experiment, I encourage readers to consider and reflect upon where you are placing trust these days and the process of determining said trustworthiness. Feel free to comment or ask questions if you feel inclined.