Trust is built by consistently doing the same thing, hopefully the right thing, over years. There’s no shortcut. And to destroy trust requires either that same kind of repetition, in the opposite direction, or for people to have missed everything that came before.
Misinformation is like a poison that accelerates the process. We are inundated with data. Half of it is bullshit, and there’s never enough time to sort through it before it scrolls off, ready for the next thing to dominate our attention.
I want to be less reactionary. I keep coming back to this post I linked to a few weeks ago, from Seth Godin, on organizing for the urgent:
We thrive when we do things when we have the most leverage, not when everyone else does. Waiting for trouble means that you’re going to spend your days dealing with trouble.
Most social networks are designed for urgency. No wonder that the default state is to demand quick answers and trust nothing.
