When I was going to school on the west side of Manhattan in the mid 1950s, I used to get free tickets to see a new quiz show broadcast just down the block. The name of the show was “Who Do You Trust?” and was hosted by a young man from the Midwest named Johnny Carson. He later replaced a future Westchester village neighbor of mine named Jack Paar on another show called “ The Tonight Show.”
I don’t remember what the quiz show was like anymore but do remember the incorrect grammar of it, “Who” instead of “Whom.”
But now the question arises in my mind on a more frequent basis. Whom or who do I trust? Whom should I trust?
We always trusted our priests. Now we know that there have been many abuses of young parishioners by Catholic priests and realize that though the mass media has never mentioned this, this practice has probably been going on for centuries. And what made matters worse was that those on top of the church hierarchy covered up the crimes making more people subject to abuse. Our evangelical leaders faired no better, not able to resist the sexual relations they preached against. And let us not forget the mullahs who preach hatred and violence to foster their campaign of the subjugation of women, their apparent raison d’etre and remain silent while their dictators slaughter their own people and their extremists torture innocents. Should or can we trust our religious leaders?
What about our bankers and financiers? Can we trust them? If you had money in Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo or Barclay’s, you have probably realized that you cannot trust them to put your welfare above or on a par with their own interests. They actually admitted it to a congressional committee trying to find out what caused the financial crash of ’08. Companies like Goldman Sachs knowingly bundled bad loans and sold them to their own clients while actually betting against them at the same time. Why would anyone continue to do business with such companies, companies they can no longer trust?
But surely we can trust our doctors. Now we learn that there are at least 100,000 deaths a year due to hospital error. Every night on the national news we learn that the doctors were wrong about something else and that we should stop doing what they told us to do. The drugs they offered women to prevent problems with their bones, only work for five years after which they actually cause bones to break. Aspirin was recommended for everyone to avoid stroke, heart attacks and even cancer, now has been found to present too many other health risks and should be used only by people with known heart problems. Then there are mammograms, MRIs, x-rays all thought mainly beneficial now found to cause to potentially life threatening problems if overdone. We spend more on medicine than any other developed country and yet have some of the worst results. Can we trust our physicians?
But what about our free press, blessed by our very first amendment to the Constitution, surely we can trust the media to give the information we need, or can we? Not only has our mass media been characterized as sensationalist and shallow or just inaccurate, it can also be biased. We have seen them show their bias in cases involving racial violence, seeming to want to fan the flames of violence and destruction in their superficial and sensational reporting. There was the alleged “stand your ground” murder of an unarmed high school football player that turned out to be a clear case of self defense. There was the case of the unarmed former high school football player who allegedly was shot in the back while having his hands up. A grand jury and then the U.S. Justice Department found that he was attacking a police officer and his hands were not up. There was the case of the young drug dealer reacting to his 20th arrest of the year by thrashing around in a police van. He accidentally hit his head and died a few days later. The media blamed the six officers. The result of these misperceptions caused by biased, superficial and sensationalist reporting lead to riots which destroyed property and threatened lives.The riots in Baltimore based on misinformation resulted in 56 homicides in six weeks - a record even for Baltimore, once the murder capital of America. What the media did not report was that 55 of the victims were black as were their assailants.
But the media has outdone itself during this election cycle. The mainstream media has not tried to conceal its choice for our next president and has done whatever it could to make their hope a reality. If it weren’t so serious, it would be funny. We talk about the billionaires stealing this election, when it is the media which has left its fingerprints all over the crime scene. Talk about being superficial, sensational and subjective. It should be their slogan. The Times should change theirs to be “All the news that we see fit to print.” The result of this terrible reporting is mobs expressing fear and hatred while protesting against them. Tolerant people feeling they have license to be intolerant of those labeled intolerant and to hate those labeled as bigoted. They don’t see the irony in and hypocrisy of their misguided position.
But at least we have our elected officials. At the core of our great nation’s democracy is representative government through free and open elections. American citizens can vote for and elect the person whom they feel best represents their interests. We have 535 people in Congress representing our best interests. Or are they? Currently only nine percent of our people trust the Congress. You can only wonder who these nine percent are.
It has also come to light that many of these legislators were also on the take. Some bought or sold stocks based on inside legislative information. Others accepted favors from corporations like free golf trips to Scotland on private corporate jets in exchange for favorable legislation. Still others allowed lobbyists to actually write legislation favorable to their efforts. The only word that comes to mind to describe such people is a five letter unmentionable name which begins with the letter “W” and is usually attributed to pliers of the second oldest profession. Using this term for legislators is an insult to their namesakes. Not even congress people trust congress people and they should know.
So who or whom does that leave? We can hopefully trust our family and friends, much of the time except when too much money is at stake. We can trust our instincts if they are conjoined with clear thinking and honest observation.
We can trust the exceptions to all these groups. There are some wonderful religious leaders in every religion with great faith and wisdom. There are even some honest bankers and financiers who put their clients first, give generously to charity and want to make this a better country. Banks are at the heart of our economy enabling families to borrow and save money to buy homes and pay for college tuition and helping businesses to develop and grow.
Our doctors have saved countless lives with skilled and innovative surgery and/or the prescription of appropriate medication. They are on the front lines fighting cancer, heart disease and the other medical causes of our suffering. This very column would not exist if not for excellent surgeons who have performed numerous life-saving operations on behalf of its author.
There have also been courageous reporters like Morrow and Wallace but also Russert, Chronkite, Brinkley, Lehr, McNeil, and even Anderson Cooper on a good day. There were the great humorous news sources like Jon Stewart of the Daily Show, Stephen Colbert and we still have Bill Maher of Real Time. I find that PBS can usually be relied upon for accurate and in depth reporting.
When it comes to our Congress, it seems hard to trust those on the right who are clearly in the wrong on some social and fiscal issues and those on the left who are moving us too far off center creating a culture of ubiquitous victimhood to expand their underdog base. Surely, there are congress people who truly love their country and try to work cooperatively to improve the lives of our people. However, no name comes to mind.
And when all else fails, you can trust this column to bring you ideas whose author truly believes will be of benefit to the you. Trust me that I am someone whom you can trust.
I don’t remember what the quiz show was like anymore but do remember the incorrect grammar of it, “Who” instead of “Whom.”
But now the question arises in my mind on a more frequent basis. Whom or who do I trust? Whom should I trust?
We always trusted our priests. Now we know that there have been many abuses of young parishioners by Catholic priests and realize that though the mass media has never mentioned this, this practice has probably been going on for centuries. And what made matters worse was that those on top of the church hierarchy covered up the crimes making more people subject to abuse. Our evangelical leaders faired no better, not able to resist the sexual relations they preached against. And let us not forget the mullahs who preach hatred and violence to foster their campaign of the subjugation of women, their apparent raison d’etre and remain silent while their dictators slaughter their own people and their extremists torture innocents. Should or can we trust our religious leaders?
What about our bankers and financiers? Can we trust them? If you had money in Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo or Barclay’s, you have probably realized that you cannot trust them to put your welfare above or on a par with their own interests. They actually admitted it to a congressional committee trying to find out what caused the financial crash of ’08. Companies like Goldman Sachs knowingly bundled bad loans and sold them to their own clients while actually betting against them at the same time. Why would anyone continue to do business with such companies, companies they can no longer trust?
But surely we can trust our doctors. Now we learn that there are at least 100,000 deaths a year due to hospital error. Every night on the national news we learn that the doctors were wrong about something else and that we should stop doing what they told us to do. The drugs they offered women to prevent problems with their bones, only work for five years after which they actually cause bones to break. Aspirin was recommended for everyone to avoid stroke, heart attacks and even cancer, now has been found to present too many other health risks and should be used only by people with known heart problems. Then there are mammograms, MRIs, x-rays all thought mainly beneficial now found to cause to potentially life threatening problems if overdone. We spend more on medicine than any other developed country and yet have some of the worst results. Can we trust our physicians?
But what about our free press, blessed by our very first amendment to the Constitution, surely we can trust the media to give the information we need, or can we? Not only has our mass media been characterized as sensationalist and shallow or just inaccurate, it can also be biased. We have seen them show their bias in cases involving racial violence, seeming to want to fan the flames of violence and destruction in their superficial and sensational reporting. There was the alleged “stand your ground” murder of an unarmed high school football player that turned out to be a clear case of self defense. There was the case of the unarmed former high school football player who allegedly was shot in the back while having his hands up. A grand jury and then the U.S. Justice Department found that he was attacking a police officer and his hands were not up. There was the case of the young drug dealer reacting to his 20th arrest of the year by thrashing around in a police van. He accidentally hit his head and died a few days later. The media blamed the six officers. The result of these misperceptions caused by biased, superficial and sensationalist reporting lead to riots which destroyed property and threatened lives.The riots in Baltimore based on misinformation resulted in 56 homicides in six weeks - a record even for Baltimore, once the murder capital of America. What the media did not report was that 55 of the victims were black as were their assailants.
But the media has outdone itself during this election cycle. The mainstream media has not tried to conceal its choice for our next president and has done whatever it could to make their hope a reality. If it weren’t so serious, it would be funny. We talk about the billionaires stealing this election, when it is the media which has left its fingerprints all over the crime scene. Talk about being superficial, sensational and subjective. It should be their slogan. The Times should change theirs to be “All the news that we see fit to print.” The result of this terrible reporting is mobs expressing fear and hatred while protesting against them. Tolerant people feeling they have license to be intolerant of those labeled intolerant and to hate those labeled as bigoted. They don’t see the irony in and hypocrisy of their misguided position.
But at least we have our elected officials. At the core of our great nation’s democracy is representative government through free and open elections. American citizens can vote for and elect the person whom they feel best represents their interests. We have 535 people in Congress representing our best interests. Or are they? Currently only nine percent of our people trust the Congress. You can only wonder who these nine percent are.
It has also come to light that many of these legislators were also on the take. Some bought or sold stocks based on inside legislative information. Others accepted favors from corporations like free golf trips to Scotland on private corporate jets in exchange for favorable legislation. Still others allowed lobbyists to actually write legislation favorable to their efforts. The only word that comes to mind to describe such people is a five letter unmentionable name which begins with the letter “W” and is usually attributed to pliers of the second oldest profession. Using this term for legislators is an insult to their namesakes. Not even congress people trust congress people and they should know.
So who or whom does that leave? We can hopefully trust our family and friends, much of the time except when too much money is at stake. We can trust our instincts if they are conjoined with clear thinking and honest observation.
We can trust the exceptions to all these groups. There are some wonderful religious leaders in every religion with great faith and wisdom. There are even some honest bankers and financiers who put their clients first, give generously to charity and want to make this a better country. Banks are at the heart of our economy enabling families to borrow and save money to buy homes and pay for college tuition and helping businesses to develop and grow.
Our doctors have saved countless lives with skilled and innovative surgery and/or the prescription of appropriate medication. They are on the front lines fighting cancer, heart disease and the other medical causes of our suffering. This very column would not exist if not for excellent surgeons who have performed numerous life-saving operations on behalf of its author.
There have also been courageous reporters like Morrow and Wallace but also Russert, Chronkite, Brinkley, Lehr, McNeil, and even Anderson Cooper on a good day. There were the great humorous news sources like Jon Stewart of the Daily Show, Stephen Colbert and we still have Bill Maher of Real Time. I find that PBS can usually be relied upon for accurate and in depth reporting.
When it comes to our Congress, it seems hard to trust those on the right who are clearly in the wrong on some social and fiscal issues and those on the left who are moving us too far off center creating a culture of ubiquitous victimhood to expand their underdog base. Surely, there are congress people who truly love their country and try to work cooperatively to improve the lives of our people. However, no name comes to mind.
And when all else fails, you can trust this column to bring you ideas whose author truly believes will be of benefit to the you. Trust me that I am someone whom you can trust.
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