With the end of the 2016 Presidential election, it occurs to me that societal norms are changing rapidly. Some in good ways. Some, not so much.
On one hand, we’re trusting each other more and more. The rise of the sharing economy has us opening up and trusting our fellow man in ways that would’ve been hard to imagine a few years ago. We trust strangers to drive us to and from with Uber. We trust those same strangers to deliver our food orders — unopened and untested. We trust them to rent our apartments, homes and even spare rooms in our homes with Airbnb. We trust strangers to babysit our kids and dogs on care.com and dogvacay.com. You can even borrow your neighbor’s Porsche on RelayRide. Kids. Dogs. Cars. Now that’s trust.
On the other hand, we’re trusting each other less and less. The sad state of politics has people unfriending each other. It has family members refusing to speak. And it’s opened up a concerning trend of people behaving badly — and thinking that’s okay. We saw this most recently with students attending a Wisconsin football game dressed as President Obama with a noose around his neck. We saw it with members of the famous Second City improv club quitting, reporting that audiences have become loud and aggressive, shouting out racist and anti-gay comments during performances. And we’re seeing it on Facebook, where there’s a counterpoint to every point.
And apparently now, social media has us increasingly arguing over “fake news,” created to push specific agendas. That’s a thing now — in the United States of America.
When our political leaders push falsehoods, it can result in the average citizen putting up walls, figuratively and literally. Why should we be expected to trust…