THE TRUST DEFICIT

At the end of World War II the western powers had established a certain reputation for unity and dependability. Along with the forces of the Soviet Union Hitler’s Nazis had been defeated.
The level of trust the world’s population had for the forces for good was the highest it would ever be.

Trust levels remained high for a year or two before the erosion of that trust began.

With the start of the Cold War and the formation of the CIA from the Office of Strategic Services in the USA a coordinated propaganda campaign began, incorporating Britain’s MI6 and the intelligence agencies of other allied western nations.

No matter how subtle a propaganda campaign is the bald fact of the matter is that it incorporates lies disseminated into the life blood of the societies into which it flows.

The infusion of fake news and skewed reporting into the public sphere by the CIA was exposed by several journalists before an investigation was carried out by a committee led by Idaho Senator Frank Church which fully exposed the procedures, intent and mind set behind the CIA’s 'Operation Mockingbird’ to manipulate the news stream.

‘In the early years of the Cold War, efforts were made by the United States Government to use mass media to influence public opinion internationally. Published in 1976, the (Church) Committee's report confirmed that the CIA had cultivated relationships with private institutions, including the press. Without identifying individuals by name, the Church Committee stated that it found fifty journalists who had official, but secret, relationships with the CIA. In a 1977 Rolling Stone magazine article, "The CIA and the Media," reporter Carl Bernstein expanded upon the Church Committee's report and said that around 400 press members were considered assets by the CIA.’ (Wikipedia)

In general western populations were so infused with misinformation, disinformation, propaganda and continually skewed, one-sided reporting on the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies that they fell almost entirely under its spell. That is not to say there were not deep flaws within their systems of government or that there were not policies designed to stabilize the power that resulted in oppression but that is a discussion for another time. The main point is that news, such as it was, became significantly degraded by outside influences at this time.

As the above was occurring Senator Joe McCarthy began his witch hunt against everyone that could remotely be connected with a belief in or support for communism. This was preceded by President Harry S. Truman signing an executive order in 1947 to screen federal employees for association with organizations deemed "totalitarian, fascist, communist, or subversive".  There were two bouts of ‘The Red Scare’ at this time and McCarthy took full advantage to  make accusations of subversion or treason against those brought before his committee without any recourse to evidence, only hearsay. Many careers were ruined and lives devastated in the process.

With the onset of the Korean War and later the war against North Vietnam Cold War rhetoric, propaganda, misinformation, disinformation and the general permeating of western populations with generally state-framed geopolitical “news” continued. Toward the end of the Vietnam War however real news began to leak out and this transformed the previously docile U.S. public to an entirely different frame of mind, one increasingly opposed to the war. This was arguably the time when public trust in news broadcasting institutions faltered most seriously and broadly.

Coming closer to present time, the most significant breakdown in trust between western populations and their governments and media occurred when a plethora of claims concerning Iraq and weapons of mass destruction proved to be false. The response to 9/11 by both western states and their mainstream media news outlets was to maintain a strict line whereby no doubts were expressed regarding the claims that underpinned the regime change policy that had been set and agreed upon after 9/11. More than ever before state and mass media were in lockstep. This ultimately brought both into a high degree of disrepute.

However, some memories are conveniently short in this respect.

Several more regime change operations were conducted and in general received support from the western general public. A new aspect had been found to generate support and consent, the use of humanitarian concern. This entailed the pressing of emotional buttons across both political and media elites. In the cases of both Libya and Syria this received maximum coverage and in general proved a successful tactic to manipulate public opinion.

During this period from the first attack on Iraq to the later Afghanistan to Syria campaigns a new discipline was forced on observers, they were embedded with the U.S. military and fed the information for publishing in nightly briefings. Very few actual journalists reported on any of the wars of choice of the USA and its allies from the first Iraq campaign onward. These included luminaries Robert Fisk, Robert Parry, Sy Hersh, Chris Hedges and John Pilger who gave independent commentary that largely contradicted the so-called news eminating from state or corporate “journalists”.

These few true journalists inspired others who were determined to maintain an independent and objective stance.

In recent times those funded by a crowd-funded or other process independent of corporate money have risen to provide the objective insight and views that those skeptical of mainstream news have always sought out. Those such as Max Blumenthal, Ben Norton, Aaron Mate and others within the YouTube/RT nexus of Jimmy Dore, Kim Iversen, Josh Rogan and many others who have nought been bought by those who look to their elite peers, advertisers, donors, politicians or the CIA for their talking points and state-compatible viewpoints.

In the most recent times we have seen the most outrageous liar assume the presidency of the USA whose every pronouncement almost was an obvious lie. Within this overall description of a sociopath’s mentality he did pick on one target that resonated above all others, that mainstream media was corrupted to an extent that it had become an enemy of the people. This struck a chord with many, even those who despised everything else about Trump and his divisive and destructive policies. The deceiving edifice of corporate and state “news” entities was known in widespread, almost global uniformity to be as untrustworthy as it could possibly be in political and geopolitical terms.  

In this relatively short period in geopolitical terms since the end of World War II we can see how trust has decayed to an enormous extent and subsequent to this many are now wholly skeptical of establishment narratives to the point that that even instructions given during a pandemic are greeted by massive mistrust.

All this is bad enough. But the consequences for the future are even more dire. The current pandemic is proving more virulent and long-lasting than presumed by the majority of laymen and women, politicians and experts alike. It appears to be here to stay in some form or another. In addition we have the imminent prospect of climate change catastrophes. Without unity built on trust we will render ourselves incredibly vulnerable just when we desperately need to be strong and united.

We stand here at a moment when the threat of catastrophe is all around us. We have been mortally weakened by the irresponsible acts and policies of western elites in particular.

If we are to survive trust must be rebuilt. Somehow we must come together in recognition that no fantasies cooked up to serve political or geopolitical purposes will save us now. e need to stand together somehow, not making plans to damage so-called enemies but making plans to build desperately needed bridges between us.

All to undo if we can, the trust deficit that is hollowing out every hope we have at this point.